Vongola Café
by Imitation Angel
Summary: 1827; all x 27 AU. Tsuna takes up a part-time job to help pay his way through college. Little does he know that more than half of the people working there and customers alike are more than willing to jump his bones to get a 'lil tuna lovin'. HIATUS
1. Awkward First Impressions

This idea sort of just popped in my head. It was inspired from **1zara-uchiha1, **with her idea of bakeries and waiters...8'D

In this AU, Tsuna is just about to start college (which means he's legal. woot)

* * *

><p>"Sawada Tsunayoshi. That's a pretty strange name for a girl," the blond attendant commented. He ignored the sputtering of the brunet as he adjusted his monitor screen. "Irie-kun, extra small, female uniform please. We have a newbie," he informed over the mic attached to his headset.<p>

"W-Wait, Spanner-san!" Tsuna nervously tugged on his bangs. "I'm n-not a girl!" he blurted loudly. His outburst caused some curious stares from the work staff to be sent his way.

Spanner's eyebrows were raised quite high at the clarification of his gender. "Irie-kun, I made a mistake. The newbie's a male." He could hear the redhead's chuckle from the other line. The blond rarely made mistakes regarding a person's gender.

_"There's no XS uniforms left—do you think he could fit in an S size?"_

"Hold on, I'll check. Sawada, can you step into the scanner to your right?" The brunet nodded shakily.

"It won't hurt, right?" Tsuna cautiously leaned against the wall inside the machine.

"It'll burn you if you move." The brunet immediately stood stock still. Spanner chuckled under his breath. _So gullible...and cute. _

The harmless infrared scan was completed within seconds. The results were sent to the blond's computer screen. He raised an eyebrow at the girlish measurements. "He's several sizes too small. I'm sending you his measurements right now so you can do a custom fitting later," Spanner relayed.

_"Ehh? But...what is he going to wear? Sawada Tsunayoshi—he's the newbie that got admitted here through Ieyatsu-san, right? I'm sure he's not wearing anything suitable," _Shoichi fretted.

"Why don't you send up the female uniform first? I'm sure the customers wouldn't mind," Spanner suggested blandly as he gestured for Tsuna to climb out of the scanner.

_"S-Spanner!" _His friend was obviously flustered at his innocent suggestion. _"Alright..." _The redhead yielded after several moments of silence. _"Send Sawada-san my deepest apologies." _

The blond lifted his head, concealing his smirk with a cough. "Sawada, please come over here so I can explain to you the Vongola Cafe's layout."

"Er, behind the desk?" Spanner nodded. The brunet uneasily made his way around the fixture, squeaking in surprise as the blond wrapped his arm around his waist and pulled him to the edge of his lap.

"The cafe is split into three sections, each with their own entrances," Spanner began. "The sections are all connected in the back." Tsuna shivered as his warm breath tingled the nape of his neck. "The left side belongs to the Primo Generation, the middle to the Arcobaleno, and the last to the Decimo Generation. All of the newbies are sent there, because it's the only group lacking a member. None of the new recruits last more than a couple days though for some odd reason. Good luck, kid, you're going to need it." The blond gave Tsuna an encouraging pat on the back. "Oh, and by the way—don't freak out about the uniform. Irie's working on it."

Tsuna stood up when the arm around his waist dropped. "Thank you, Spanner-san." He swallowed nervously as he wondered it every person that worked here was as..._friendly _as Spanner had been, just like Giotto had warned.

* * *

><p>"Maa, I heard we're expecting a newbie today," Yamamoto said, smiling in his usual easy-going manner.<p>

"Tch. The brat supposedly only got in because Giotto-san recommended him." Hayato narrowed his eyes in distaste.

"Kufufu." The laugh was enough to cause the silveret to scowl as he pointed an accusing finger at the dark blue-haired male.

"For fuck's sake, Mukuro! The only damn reason why they don't stay is because you keep on fucking molesting them!"

"I EXTREMELY AGREE WITH OCTOPUS HEAD!" Before Hayato could reply with a "WHAT DID YOU CALL ME, TURF TOP?", a fifth male glared at the silveret and boxer, daring them to go further.

"Yare, yare. Hey Stupidera, isn't it your fault too, since you keep on scaring them away?" a sable-haired male asked from the couch.

"Why you stupid cow—"

"I EXTREMELY DON'T GET WHAT WE'RE WAITING HERE FOR," Ryohei interrupted.

At that moment, the door to their lounge room opened. The new recruit daintily stepped in, trembling at their gazes. Milky white thighs were exposed, while slender legs were slightly shaking in fear. The girl's uniform was short and clung to the recruit's body, and it resembled a maid uniform in every aspect except for the Vongola logo sewed on the right chest area. The five males, in unison, trailed their gaze up to the recruit's face. Impossibly innocent, caramel eyes took their breath away, and soft, pink lips that were begging to be kissed (in Mukuro's opinion) parted to say something.

"Please excuse my intrusion," the recruit meekly said in a soft tenor. Cue jaw drops.

Hayato was the first to break the silence. "I thought the newbie was supposed to be a boy."

Mukuro was beside the recruit in a flash. "Oya?" His gloved hands brushed over the newbie's general chest area. "Rather flat for a girl." The brunet flushed at the comment as he made no secret about staring at the male's rather odd heterochromatic eyes. One eye was a shade of dark cerulean, while the other eye was ruby red and had a kanji symbol instead of a pupil—contacts?

"I'm not a gir—Nnh..." Mukuro teasingly groped the new recruit's ass.

"Kufufu, doesn't matter to me. Rokudo Mukuro, at your service."

"What did I fucking tell you about the touching, pineapple bastard!" Hayato stalked over and slapped Mukuro's wandering hand away. The brunet breathed a sigh in relief. "Watch yourself around him," the silveret warned. "I'm Gokudera Hayato. Yamamoto Takeshi is the grinning idiot beside turf top—I mean, Sasagawa Ryohei. Lambo Bovino is the stupid cow on the couch, and Hibari Kyouya is the bastard that's staring at you like he doesn't give a fuck."

"I'm S-Sawada Tsunayoshi," the brunet introduced himself. "But call me Tsuna. I'm _not _a girl," he emphasized carefully. "They seem to have ran out of male uniforms, so they put me in...this." He was referring to the frilly maid's dress that he was wearing.

Lambo was trying in vain to stifle a laugh.

"I ADMIRE YOU, SAWADA!" The boxer shoved past the two males and embraced Tsuna in a bone-crushing hug. "I'm your onii-san from now on," Ryohei declared as he released the brunet.

Mukuro, not to be out bested, purred, "Then that makes me your _master_." The brunet shuddered, but the reaction wasn't purely out of disgust. His pink cheeks were an indicator.

"Tsuna, by any chance, do you already know what to do?" Yamamoto asked.

The brunet nodded confidently. "I waited tables all through high school." The five males exchanged glances. The sixth one was dozing off by the window with a yellow bird nestled in his raven tresses.

"Cow, get off the couch and get your ass over here. We have 20 minutes to educate the newbie."

Tsuna didn't like how that sounded.

* * *

><p>Tsuna shuddered. "The public actually requests this?"<p>

"Cosplay, pocky games, yaoi acts, and a lot more, goodness. It would've been different if we actually had a girl," Lambo explained.

Tsuna bit his lip. Giotto _had _mentioned some..weird details, but he had brushed it off as unimportant at the time. He just needed a part-time job to get him through college.

He unconsciously made a sound of approval as he felt a comb go through his hair, which was accompanied by massaging fingers.

"Whoa—it won't go down!" Yamamoto exclaimed. "It's like you have sex hair the whole day!"

Mukuro chuckled at the unintended sex pun.

"Ah, I've tried to gel it down before. It didn't work," Tsuna said apologetically. Hayato snapped his fingers as he thought of something.

"A wig. He needs a wig." Mukuro produced one several seconds of searching later.

"Yare, yare. I thought I never wanted to see that again."

"Kufufu, Tsunayoshi-kun would look much better in it than you did, cow."

"Don't remind me about it," Lambo grouched.

"That was the wig Lambo had to wear when a customer requested for a western-style crossdress," Yamamoto explained as he stuffed Tsuna's hair in a hairnet. "Though, we're using it today so customers think you're a girl, haha!"

Hayato fitted the blonde wig expertly on Tsuna. If he had any doubts about the effeminate qualities of the brunet, they were all blown away the moment the wig was placed on his head.

"SAWADA EXTREMELY LOOKS LIKE A GIRL! EVEN MORE THAN A COUPLE OF SECONDS AGO!"

"Kufufu, my thoughts exactly."

"If someone requests him, what do we do?" Lambo idly wondered.

"It'll raise business if Tsuna attends to the male customers," Hayato muttered.

"But the majority of the female customers request yaoi service, and none of us fit the uke role as well as Tsunayoshi-kun," Mukuro countered.

"What about half-half?" Tsuna suggested. He had no idea what an 'uke' was, but he was sure that no one would want to request any special service from him. Besides, it was only going to be for one day, since Shoichi had promised him the uniform would definitely be completed by tomorrow. He stared enviously at the crisp, white dress shirts under perfectly tailored blazer vests, the black slacks and matching Italian calf shoes completing the _male _uniform. Dresses, especially _maid _dresses, were so itchy and uncomfortably breezy down _there_.

"Sounds fair," the blue-haired male agreed. No one but Tsuna missed his devious smirk.

"I was wondering, would I have a chance to see Giotto-nii at all?" Tsuna asked. "He works in the Primo section."

"Sawada Ieyatsu? Kufufu...I see the resemblance now." Tsuna's brow furrowed.

"What do you mean by that, Rokudo-san?"

"He means that he tried to molest him the same way he did to you," interjected Hayato. "But the older pineapple bastard got to him first."

"Damn Spade," Mukuro cursed. "Then Alaude _had _to show up with his handcuffs," he pouted. Tsuna was speechless. For one, because Giotto knew what was going to happen to him, and _still _let him apply for the job. For two, males Mukuro's age aren't supposed to pout _and _still look as hot as hell—fuck. He couldn't believe he just thought his co-worker was hot. Well, if he was honest with himself, he would have admitted that he thought all five were hot, and the sixth one that had been glaring at him earlier made his face flush, even though his picturesque features had been marred with a scowl. God, he had never felt so awkward with his sexual preference until now.

"Haha! Good times," Yamamoto joked. "But on topic now; we do mingle for business. It happens every Thursday," he informed. "For example, you may end up working in the Arcobaleno section for a day." Tsuna shuddered. There was someone who worked there that he'd rather not see.

Then he realized something. "But tomorrow's Thursday!"

"We'll draw lots to see who switches when the cafe closes today," Lambo clarified.

Hayato spared a glance at his watch, his eyes widening slightly as he took note of the time. "It's time to go."

"Kufufu, don't forget these~" The silveret paled at the sight of the neko ears that Mukuro was approaching him with.

"There is no way in all seven hells that you're going to make me wear that damned thing!" Hayato hissed and backed up, his reaction much like a cornered cat.

"Kufufu, there's only six hells," Mukuro corrected, the character in his red eye switching to 4 as he crept closer.

"It's tradition," Yamamoto explained. "The cat ears go to someone different each day." Tsuna nodded before softly speaking up.

"I-I'll wear it if Gokudera-san really dislikes it," the brunet volunteered. He didn't mind them at all—when he had visited a daycare, the children seemed to enjoy seeing him wear the paper cat ears they had crafted for him.

Mukuro's eyes lit up with perverse intent. "Then don't mind if I take the honor of putting it in your hair." Tsuna's survival instincts were screaming for him to get far, far away from the blue-haired male, but he forced himself to man up and stand his ground.

Mukuro's touch was surprisingly gentle as he threaded the ends of the cloth headband through the authentic blonde hairs of his wig. He tilted Tsuna's chin up as he examined his work. "Kufufu, cute, just like a little bunny." The brunet's eyes widened and his heart beat sped up drastically as Mukuro started to lean in.

_Smack._

"Get the hell away from him, pervert!" Hayato grabbed the brunet's wrist and made a dash for the door. Tsuna had to run to avoid being dragged along.

When they were safely out of the lounge, they slowed down to a halt.

"I, uh, appreciate what you did for me," Hayato said gruffly, not meeting Tsuna's gaze.

"You're welcome, Gokudera-san," Tsuna returned warmly. "A-And, t-thank you for saving me earlier. That would've been my first kiss," the brunet said somewhat sheepishly.

A light blush dusted across Hayato's cheeks. _He's going to lose his first kiss within a couple hours. _"Che. Just call me Hayato." _Stupid kid was too damn adorable for his own good. _

The two waiters walked by the front desk to pick up their notepads and pens.

"Looking good, Sawada-chan," Spanner joked as he offered him a wrench-shaped lollipop, not unlike the pink one he had in his mouth. "Want one?" Tsuna blushed as he accepted it; fumbling with the wrapper for a few moments before successfully manging to open it. Beside him, Hayato unwrapped his sweet without any trouble. The wrappers went into the nearest trash can.

"It's orange today," the silveret commented as they leaned against a wall to wait for customers. He hurried to explain when a look of confusion crossed Tsuna's face. "Spanner gives out lollipops that change flavor from day to day."

"Mm. They're good," the brunet hummed in approval.

"Handcrafted. 12% boost in energy—" The silveret choked back a moan as Yamamoto's hand brushed past his clothed member.

"First customer's request," Yamamoto murmured into Hayato's ear. He winked at Tsuna before continuing to place his hands...

Oh god.

_Scarred for life scarred for life scarred for life scarred for—_Tsuna's head made a soft thump against someone's chest in his rush to get far, far away from the duo. He glanced up to see who it was, words of apology abruptly halting as he realized the person as the only male in the Decimo Generation group that he hadn't spoken to.

"H-Hibari-san?" The raven-haired male gazed down uninterestedly at him. "U-Uh, sorry for b-bumping into you! I was..." he suppressed another shudder at the thought of Hayato and Yamamoto.

"There's no way that you're going to keep your lip virginity while you're working here, kufufu~" Hands were placed on the brunet's hips, alerting the boy that Mukuro was behind him. "You might as well give it to me."

"W-Wait...how did you know about that?"

"I have my ways," he purred. His eyes were sparkling with mischief as he playfully licked the tip of the brunet's ear.

Tsuna couldn't suppress a shudder. _Guh...stupid sensitivity. _

Something silver flashed. "No molesting outside of the job, pineapple herbivore." A gleaming tonfa was blocked by a trident. Tsuna gulped. He hadn't seen either weapon being withdrawn, his only hint of Mukuro reaching for his weapon was when his hands left his hips.

"Rokudo-san has a lot of pineapple nicknames," Tsuna said, his voice shaking as he tried to derail the two violent males' thoughts of murder.

Mukuro twitched slightly in annoyance, but quickly covered it up with a smirk. "Tsunayoshi-kun, don't mind Kyouya~ He's—" the blue-haired male blocked another attack, "Just—" he dodged a swift uppercut, "Grumpy."

"Take a hint, Rokudo," Hibari growled. Tsuna was ashamed to admit that he thought Hibari's voice was sexy at that moment.

"Kufufu I—" The two automatically straightened when a customer sat down at the table next to them. All traces of their weapons disappeared.

Tsuna hurried away to find some menus. By the time he returned, the two males were already tending to other customers.

"My name is Tsuna, and I'll be your waiter...ess for today. Would you like me to suggest something for you?" _Oh, crap. _He had said out of habit when he had waited tables back at his old workplace. He had no idea what kind of food was made in this cafe. The woman smiled and nodded gratefully.

"Yes, please. My friends recommended me this cafe, so I'm not at all familiar with anything," she said apologetically as she folded up the menu. A baby was sleeping peacefully in her stroller.

"Er...well, to be honest, I just started working here today," Tsuna said sheepishly. He took note of the dark bags under her eyes as he picked up a menu to scan through entries. "I would try green tea and an Italian classic, the _cornetto. _They come in single and double servings; and are filled with either strawberry jam, grape jam, and other assorted fruit jams. Cream is also an option." He was glad that he had enough culinary knowledge to understand the foods on the menu.

"Well, I guess I'll order exactly that," the woman said as she rubbed her eyes sleepily.

"I'll be back with your order soon, ma'am." Tsuna searched for the kitchen, easily finding it despite being directionally challenged. It was obvious—even he couldn't miss the blinking neon lights that shone _kitchen_. He pushed past the doors, the expanse of the culinary room almost overwhelming him at once. He spotted the counter, where several notes were already waiting to be fulfilled.

"Kyaa~ It's a new recruit~" Tsuna almost squeaked in surprise when a squealing man hugged him. "Oh, you're so cute!" The brunet flushed when the cook began to _ooh _and _ah _over him. His hair was strangely styled—he had a crop of green bangs on one side, a red mohawk, and the other side of his head of shaved.

"I-I'm Tsuna," the brunet stuttered as he almost shoved the note in the cook's face. "I'll l-like you to put extra lemon flavoring in her green tea to provide a stronger wake-up and refreshing effect."

"No problem~" The cook glanced at the adorable brunet. The recruit seemed to know what he was talking about, and his senses were tingling. This person was _not _a girl. "Just call me Luss-nee-chan~"

Tsuna nodded and hauled ass out of there. That man seemed to see right through him, even though he had those odd sunglasses on.

* * *

><p>He had gotten several other customers' orders in the short amount of time that he was back in the requesting area. When he was back with his first customer's order, the table was empty, and a raven-haired male was standing by on watch.<p>

"Where is the woman that was sitting here?" Tsuna asked as he set down the glass of green tea and plate of cornettos.

"Bathroom," was Hibari's terse reply. The woman had asked him to watch her baby while she went to relieve herself.

The brunet nodded and started to go to another customer's table to see if anyone needed tending to when the baby in the stroller started crying. There was a slight flash of uncertainty in Hibari's eyes as he hesitated on what to do. _Take the baby outside, or bite it to death? _

Tsuna gulped as he weighed the chances. If he tried to calm the baby, the woman might not appreciate the fact that he was touching her child, and if he left the baby alone, the other customers would get annoyed. The baby's hands seemed to be reaching towards him as she cried. That sealed the deal for him.

He bent down to retrieve the baby from the stroller, gently cradling the girl in his arms. "Shh," he hushed as he started to rock her back and forth in a soft rhythm. She automatically started to calm down, her grey eyes peering up at him, as if wondering why she was being held by someone other than her mother. He started to hum a tune that had belonged to his childhood past. The baby seemed to like it, because she started to gurgle in delight.

"Hey. Hey, don't poke out my eyes," he joked as the baby girl clumsily grasped his face. Instead, the baby seemed to be intent on obtaining the cat ears. Tsuna smiled before yanking the headband out of his wig. He readjusted the fake hair quickly before someone caught him, then he offered the ears to the baby. She instantly cheered up, marveling at the simple cloth in her tiny hands.

Hibari watched all of this in (slight) awe. Screaming babies weren't usually an issue in the cafe, but when they happened, it was a mini disaster that required Lussuria.

Hibari detested the flamboyant chef. He would often do the cursed nudge-nudge wink-wink routine and suggested people for him to hook up with. He made sure to properly bite him to death every time he got a chance to.

"What are you doing with _my _baby?"

* * *

><p>Hopefully it's not that awkward. It was fun researching the material for this; I learned some new things 8'D<p>

Leave me a review with your thoughts - and which pairings you'd like me to include - anything goes.

(Basil, Oregano, Tumeric, Bianchi, Bluebell, Byakuran, the list goes on).

Arcobaleno & Primo Generation willbe present (I'm sure you've deduced this by now LOL)


	2. Kisses and Family Resemblances

**Fulle, Atsuko-san, lovepikachu12, Kichou, Lilspring, Sara Young, ShawolsMVP, Okuri Soji, RoxasIsReal13, Lenin, Azalie-Kauriu, Takara yume: **Thanks for your support 8D

**HiKaRi-ChIbI **Haha, it's only for a day though ^-^ Gotcha. I'll keep that in mind - never done R27 before though :3 **Angel Dono **Always uke Tsuna. LOL Shh, she's going to be my OC. Don't hate her D: **daemonkieran **That's what she said. **Pulver15 **Thank you ;D I've just recently gotten better with longer chapters xD **ben4kevin **Always up for a little 182769 8D Though there's gonna be a lot of crack pairings mixed in. **TakeshiYamamoto2980 **/nods solemnly. I'm afraid so :C Byakuran will appear...soon. And I'll keep that in mind :'D **Ilyasviel16 **LOL thanks 8'D There will be lip to lip contact in this chapter. Dun Dun Dun. **iloveyaoi-G27 **Of course. I plan to include every character in some way...well most of them anyways. :) **Lascka **Thank you - and yes. In fact, I have a fem!27 fic...-facepalm- Tsuna will get to know them soon enough :3 Eventually, though. I want him to be closer with the Decimo generation even with the plethora of canon characters. Yup, I have an idea in mind. 10069 could also be very possible. No, no, none of them are bad guys, even though I hate Daemon so much at the moment in canon D: **Anonymous**Thank you - and Enma! I love him. I'm thinking of a close relationship with Tsuna - 0027/2700 is almost entirely fluff 8D IKR? Basil will definitely be in, though I have no idea at the moment, and I can't really type his outdated speech D: Fuuta was already in from the start, but the first mention of him is in this chapter :3 **YuujouKami **I love babies, but they frighten me at the same time - with their crying all the time and whatnot D:

Note: **senpai tachi - **used when addressing more than one senpai

Though this cafe idea is more mixed with college and things, I'll try to fit in some more _food. _Yeah. I'll try. D:

Please don't mind the Alice in Wonderland references. Personally, I've never seen the film.

* * *

><p>Tsuna gulped and turned around nervously, expecting a very angry mama bear. The woman looked somewhat relieved, but the look in her eyes told him to fork over her baby.<p>

"I-I'm sorry," he squeaked. He started forward to pass the precious bundle to her, but his foot caught on a chair leg—it was the worst possible moment for his clumsiness to show itself.

Tsuna was more concerned about the baby's safety than his own. He would survive with a couple of scratches if he was lucky, but the baby wouldn't fare as well. It would be traumatizing for her for years to come, and risk of head injury at this stage when the baby's cranium hadn't developed fully yet was dangerous. He grabbed for leverage—any leverage would do. His free hand caught the edge of the table—there wasn't enough time to completely halt his fall, but the motion was enough to flip his body over to an angle where the baby wouldn't get hurt. He met the woman's terrified gaze pleadingly, silently communicating his deepest apologies with his eyes.

There was a ripping sound when someone clutched the front of his maid uniform. Caramel met slate blue. He was hovering just an inch above the floor, the lower strands of his hair touching the clean and polished wood.

When Hibari hauled Tsuna up, the buttons of his dress littered the floor. "Herbivore," the raven-haired male scoffed.

"Sorry!" The brunet apologized profusely as he this time, handed the baby safely into her arms. The infant's wide grey eyes closed, then fluttered open again as she broke into a wide grin.

"Wah!" The baby squirmed in the woman's arms as she stretched out her arms for more. The woman couldn't help but smile at her infant's antics.

"No harm, no foul. Though I was really scared that Hana might be harmed for a second there." She sat down as she started to bounce the excited baby on her lap.

"Hana? That's a really pretty name," Tsuna smiled, though his happy expression quickly transformed back into a worried one. "I really am sorry—"

"Stop making a fuss about it," the woman said sternly. She then smiled kindly. "Hana really seems to like you, I'll forgive you just this once," she winked as she picked up her green tea. She blew once on the surface before taking a sip. The brunet was watching her like a hawk as she set the glass mug down. "You know, I think I might become a regular here. Call me Ryoko. This tea is absolutely amazing." Tsuna flushed with delight, and he promised that he would give her regards to the chef—Lussuria.

For someone who nearly caused her baby mental damage, Ryoko left a pretty large tip after promising that she'd be back soon. The scene seemed to have attracted the other customers' attention as well, who had started to chat excitedly amongst themselves.

"Kya, did you see that? It was like, a total movie moment!"

"Are they a couple?"

"I wonder if that babe's single."

"Someone with looks like her? No way, man."

"Maybe I should ask her for her number..."

Tsuna blushed as Hibari looked pointedly at his now button less uniform. "I'll make do..." he mumbled. "Thank you very much, Hibari-san." The skylark gazed noncommittally at him before giving a miniscule nod and heading off to tend to new customers.

_Hana...she reminded him of Fuuta. _

* * *

><p>The hours passed swiftly. More customers had requested for Tsuna to take their orders, but none had asked for special service, to his uttermost relief. He had been groped a few times, but the touches had mysteriously stopped after he had confided in Yamamoto. There were also some people—mostly males—that had asked for his phone number. He had politely declined every single time after a blushing fit.<p>

"Miss! Here, please!" Tsuna, after realizing that the comment was directed at him, hurried over to the people who had hailed him.

"Yes...master?" The brunet's cheeks flared. The 'master' part had been Mukuro's idea, maid uniform, maid cafe? Haha, funny. No.

The three men who sat at the table grinned wolfishly at Tsuna. One eyed his unbuttoned front appreciatively, and sorely wished that the dress shirt underneath was unbuttoned as well. Another one molested him with his eyes, while a third one undressed his mentally.

"Mind if you do a cosplay for us?" the one with orange hair asked.

Tsuna gulped. He didn't have a choice, right?

"E-Erm...I-I...w-well..." he stammered as the trio looked at him expectantly.

"You do know that the wait is thirty minutes to a couple of hours, right?" Tsuna breathed in relief.

"Lambo!" The sable-haired male leaned in to whisper in his ear.

"Just thought you needed a little help."

But the males nodded eagerly instead of looking crestfallen as they rubbed their hands together gleefully. The brunet's shoulders sagged in defeat. Lambo sympathetically patted him on the back as he guided him to cafe seamstress's office.

A girl around his age opened the door not three seconds after Lambo had knocked on it.

"Lambo-kun!" She clapped her hands together joyously.

"Uni-chan," the male responded with a smile. The girl ushered them in.

"I suppose Tsuna-kun needs a costume tailored?" The brunet gaped at her.

"How did—"

The girl smiled mischievously. "Some things I just know." Lambo snorted good-naturedly.

"More like Gamma told you." But Tsuna was already caught in her trap, enamored by her compassion as she guided him through another door that held the many racks of costumes.

"Lambo-kun, you may go now. I'll take care of Tsuna-kun!" The male caught a flash of Uni's forest green hair as she pushed the petite brunet around. He suddenly felt very lucky that it wasn't him in there.

* * *

><p>Tsuna's cheeks burned in shame. Any last shred of masculinity he had struggled to hold on to was torn free from his grip.<p>

"Don't worry, Tsuna-kun! You look absolutely cute!" Uni squealed. "What a perfect Alice!"

"But I don't want to look cute! I want to look cool or handsome!" the brunet wailed as he tugged the short dress lower. Underneath the blue and white dress, he wore white undergarments that reminded him of pillowy goose feathers. Uni told him that they were called bloomers, and he had thanked the gods when she had agreed to let him keep his boxers on. Black and white striped leggings covered his legs, ending when they reached his white less-than-half-inch heels. His outfit was all ruffles and frills, and the dark-haired girl had even added a large black bow in his blond wig.

Uni took the liberty of shoving him out the door and shouting praises and cheers after him as he took hesitant steps towards the serving area of the cafe.

His stride became more confident as he neared the back entrance. Caught up in the heat of the moment, he threw open the door with excess flair.

He immediately regretted the action as countless pairs of eyes were drawn to him, some in amazement, some in wonder, and some in...well, he didn't want to know.

"Kufufu, Alice?" A male that was dressed in purple and black with a matching tail and set of cat ears appeared next to the brunet. Tsuna's hands automatically went up to his head to feel the neko ears headband that was supposed to be there, only to discover that it was missing. Maybe Mukuro...?

"Shit," someone cursed lowly under their breath. Tsuna turned his gaze to the left and almost gaped when he saw Hibari in the same themed attire as himself and Mukuro.

The raven-haired male had donned on an emerald green hat, which resembled a top hat except that it was shorter and had more curves. He wore an open suit blazer similar in shade with his hat but just a tad darker. A white dress shirt not unlike the cafe's uniform was exposed by the unbuttoned blazer, and fitted black slacks ending around the heel of his black uniform shoes.

"Well, my dear Alice, it seems that we have company," Mukuro purred. "Please to be acquainted again...Mad Hatter."

Hibari glared at the pineapple-headed offender. "Herbivorous as always...Cheshire Cat."

By this time the crowd was thoroughly engrossed with their interaction.

Bits and pieces of information were given to Tsuna as they headed towards a rounded table that was already seating 7 people. From what he could put together, some customers had requested cosplays from Mukuro and Hibari as well, and Lussuria (he had just learned from Mukuro that the chef was a man of many talents, albeit feminine ones) had heard from Uni that she was planning for Tsuna to do an Alice cosplay (she probably did it while he was struggling to get his clothes on), so he had went with the whole _Alice in Wonderland _theme for Hibari and Mukuro to match.

Tsuna felt no satisfaction when he saw his customers' double takes at his attire, but felt just a tiny bit smug that he was able to conjure such a reaction. He noted that the other half of the customers were entirely female.

He sat down on the chair that Mukuro had pulled out for him. The two males flanked him.

Right on cue, Lambo arrived with a tray of miniature crumpets and a teapot. The sable-haired male expertly distributed the confections and poured the tea—chamomile from the smell of it—in their cups.

"Enjoy your Vongola-Style Tea Party, ladies and gentlemen." He winked at Tsuna before departing.

The brunet eyed the food hungrily. When he had left Giotto's apartment, he hadn't even had a chance to eat breakfast.

Mukuro noticed the want in his gaze and chuckled a quite 'kufufu' to himself as he reached over to delicately place a crumpet in Tsuna's open mouth.

The reaction was instant. The brunet closed his mouth as Mukuro withdrew his fingers.

Chew. Swallow. Glare (it definitely looked more like a pout). "I can feed myself." The blue-haired male smirked in amusement as he leaned back in his chair.

Even with the customers still ogling their respective males, the Decimo waiters managed to calmly sip their tea (Hibari) eat their pastries (Tsuna) and grope their kouhai (Mukuro).

"S-Stop," the brunet mumbled as he felt a hand trailing up his leg.

"Oya? That wasn't me." That caused Tsuna to jerk his head up in surprise. He found the culprit, who was grinning like a cat that got the cream.

"Smooth, just like I thought," the male murmured to his buddies. Seeing how the male who had touched him was seated near Mukuro, Tsuna scooted closer to Hibari. The scent of lavender, sakura, and green tea catches his attention. He inhaled, confirming that the scent was from the raven-haired male. He half-smiled. Someone as dangerous as Hibari had such a...girly scent.

"Hey, Hibari-san? Do—"

_Oh, shit._

His question instantly flees his mind. Hibari just _had _to tilt his head down whilst Tsuna was tiling his up because the elder was taller than him.

Their lips touched.

It took a while for a finally comprehensible thought to form in his mind. He jerked back into Mukuro.

"Hie! I'm so sorry I was just—"

"Kufufu," Mukuro chuckled darkly, and his red eye's character flashed to a five. "Kyouya...how rude of you. I claimed Tsunayoshi-kun first." Hibari's eyes narrowed as he glanced at Tsuna, a very malicious plan forming in his mind.

What perfect bait. He had been itching to settle the score anyways.

In a swift move, the raven-haired male grabbed the brunet and pressed a tonfa against his neck as he jumped up from their seat to the table behind them.

"Then come and get me, pineapple herbivore."

All hell broke loose then.

"Oh my goodness, the Mad Hatter kidnapped Alice!"

"The Cheshire Cat is after him!"

"Eh? He looks kind of pissed of..."

And indeed he was.

"You play dirty, Kyouya." Said sadistic male smirked as their weapons clashed together. Tsuna was getting jostled around as the two waiters fought. So when Hibari finally loosened his grip around his waist to gain a more advantageous position, the brunet seized the chance and squirmed out of the grip to place himself firmly between the two males.

"Stop!" Tsuna yelled desperately.

Mukuro couldn't slow his trident from plunging into the brunet.

"Guh..."

The blue-haired male rushed over dramatically to take the brunet in his arms.

"Alice!" Tsuna weakly propped his head up. _They were still acting out the cosplay? _

"Cheshire Cat..."

The trident was actually wedged harmlessly between his arm and his side, but he wasn't about to let the customers know that.

Tsuna's eyes widened as Mukuro inadvertently tickled his scalp before ripping his wig clean off. The hairnet had detached along with the wig, the two cosplay pieces laying on the floor as Mukuro threaded his fingers through the brunet's hair.

There was a dramatic pause before the "Cheshire Cat" crashed his lips against "Alice." The crowd gasped.

"Mmph!" Tsuna struggled to squirm free, but Mukuro persistently moved his mouth against his. "Mukumph! Leph goh!" He ceased beating his fists against the blue-haired male's chest when he felt something in his mouth. His face screwed up as it probed the insides of his cavern. Tongue?

There was no reason for him turning into a shivering, mewling mess. But he did. His head felt woozy when Mukuro finally released him, and for once, Tsuna felt a twinge of annoyance. He almost growled at the blue-haired male.

This better be on hell of a tip.

* * *

><p>After that ordeal, the customers were relieved to see Tsuna miraculously come back to life. In the first ten minutes with his wig off, he had gotten four requests—each of them a kiss. His partners alternated between Hayato, Yamamoto, Ryohei, and Lambo—since Hibari and Mukuro had already gotten theirs, albeit with no willingness on Tsuna's part. He had eventually put the wig back on to stem the flow of requests, and even from that point, he still received some cosplay requests, but thankfully, the majority of his evening customers ordered normal things from the menu.<p>

It didn't take long for closing time to come around, and Tsuna discovered that he rather liked his job, even though he didn't see Giotto at all. Now all he had to do was keep it.

"Hello, young Vongola." Tsuna didn't even bat a lash at the nickname. Everyone he's met so far had already invented a nickname for him if they weren't already calling him by his name.

"Yes, Lambo?" he replied easily as he stood on his tip toes to place the box safely on a high shelf. He wobbled a bit before straightening himself.

"It's time to do the drawings to see who's switching. Everyone's waiting for you."

"Ah! Sorry I'll be right there—where are we going?" he asked confusedly as Lambo took a different path from their lounge room.

"Everyone participates in the drawings at the same time. Two people from each section switch so it'll be even," the sable-haired male explained as he opened a door that was labeled 'GATHERING ROOM.'

"Oh." _Why didn't I think of that earlier? _Tsuna mentally berated himself for being so clueless. He hesitantly walked in the door with his head bowed down.

The room fell deathly silent.

"Oi. Dame-Tsuna. Have some confidence." The brunet jerked his head up at the all too familiar voice.

"R-Reborn..." he stuttered. Of course he had known that his ex-tutor worked here, and he had been hoping that he wouldn't have to encounter him anytime soon. His hopes were dashed at this single meeting, and now he knew that he would see him _weekly. _How could he survive that?

"Tsuna! Come here, come here," Yamamoto smiled brightly as he patted the spot beside him. The brunet suddenly became aware of everyone's stare on him. He wet his lips nervously, hoping that he wouldn't trip on his way to the seat. Thankfully, he safely crossed the room and sat down, relieved. He shyly glanced around the room for his brother. When he met his gaze, he smiled and sheepishly waved. His grin faltered as the redhead beside Giotto glared at him. He had a peculiar tattoo on his face. It was of scarlet flames, and it put Tsuna in awe even though he was trembling in fear.

Giotto waved back. "Tsuna!" he mouthed, then elbowed the redhead beside him in the ribs as he realized what he was doing.

"I bought the sticks," Lambo drawled, placing the three cups of protruding sticks at the center of the glass table. A male with dark purple hair reached over to draw, only to have his hand slapped away by Reborn.

"Dame-Tsuna has to be introduced first, idiot." The purple-haired male sniffed indignantly. Tsuna gulped. He looked dangerous. He sported a lip piercing, and a teardrop-shaped tattoo under his eye. He had several bandages on his face as well—fights?

He trembled as everyone looked at him expectantly. "I-I'm S-Sawada Tsunayoshi, but call me Tsuna," he almost mumbled, down casting his eyes the whole time. He heard Reborn give a pained sigh.

"Ieyatsu. Did you leave all my teachings on Dame-Tsuna go to waste?"

"Of course not," Giotto said cheerfully, ignoring the hidden barb. "What's wrong with having a cute and adorable brother?" Reborn snorted, along with the blond that sat next to him.

"Looking like a girl doesn't mean anything, kora."

"This is a waste of my time if I'm not getting paid," another person complained tonelessly. Tsuna wasn't sure if the person was a male or a female, a cloak was covering most of the person's features, but upside down triangular shaped purple tattoos on his cheeks were exposed. What was with the tattoos? They seemed to be in fashion.

"You say that every week, Mammon, but you never leave," a green haired male piped up. "Though I _do _agree." Then he slid up his glasses as he glanced interestedly at Tsuna. "It's odd how he possesses so many female traits, however, maybe his estrogen level is a little higher than average males?" he muttered to himself.

"Pleased to meet you, Tsuna-kun," a warm voice said. Tsuna looked confusedly at the female.

"Uni?" The brunet bit his lip in thought. They sported the same orange clover mark on their cheek and had the same forest green hair, but they looked somewhat different. This one looked older.

The female smiled. "Close. I'm Luce, and Uni's my younger sister."

"Ah." Tsuna ducked his head in embarrassment. "Sorry."

"Listen up Dame-Tsuna. I'm only going to introduce them once." The brunet focused all of his attention on the fedora-wearing male now. He knew Reborn would kill him if he let his attention wander. Reborn jerked his thumb to the blond on his left. "This is Colonello."

"Nice to meet you, kora." Tsuna nodded.

Reborn continued on. "Lal Mirch—Lal." He pointed to the female sitting beside Colonello, who was scowling irritably. Looking closer at her, he could see a scar that marred the right side of her face, but strangely, it didn't take away any of her appeal.

"If you expect me to be nice to you like that idiot, you're wrong, Sawada." Tsuna guessed that the 'idiot' was Colonello.

"Aw, Lal, don't be mean," Colonello said, kissing her on the cheek.

"I-Idiot!" She shoved him back, but the blush on her face gave it away.

"You already know Luce. Him—" Reborn pointed to the purple-haired male. "He's the lackey, Skull."

"Reborn! How many times do I have to tell you, I'm not your lackey!" The fedora-wearing male and Colonello glared at him.

"O-Okay senpai tachi..." Tsuna was amazed at how fast Skull had crumbled. He had looked _so _tough..

"That's Verde," Reborn said with an air of distaste. Now that he thought about it, sometimes on bad days Reborn would curse 'Verde' under his breath. He peeked at the green-haired male, wondering what was so bad about him.

"Sawada Tsunayoshi." The brunet cocked his head in confusion, but Verde offered no explanation, just a knowing smirk.

"That's Mammon." The person with the cloak didn't greet him. He wasn't sure if he was even looking at him with the hood and all, and he hadn't received a gender clarification either. "And that's Fon." Reborn pointed to the dark-haired male that wore his hair in a braid and had a serene smile on his face.

"I hope that we'll get to know each other better, Sawada-san."

"E-Eh? Me too...but..." He glanced at Hibari, then back at Fon again. He rolled in his lips as he contemplated whether to ask or not. The curiosity was killing him, but it would be rude...but they looked _so _alike.

"Kyouya is my younger brother. There's one more," Fon clarified. Tsuna didn't dwell on the last fact, but he could clearly see the resemblance between the two brothers. They were almost exact copies.

"It's up to you to acquaint yourself with the kitchen staff. Shoichi Irie and Spanner are co-managers, you'll see them around. Sasagawa Kyoko, Miura Haru, and Dokuro Chrome work with Uni, but they're not at work today." Reborn sat down, now that his job was done.

"I guess it's my turn." Giotto rose from his seat. "This is G—my best friend." Again, Tsuna did a double take. His brother chuckled. "Hayato and G are half-brothers."

"_Half _because I'd never have that pink hair," Hayato scowled.

"It's _red,_" G snapped.

"They usually get along well." Both males scowled at him as the blond smiled sheepishly. "This is Asari Ugetsu—he's Takeshi's brother." The male smiled kindly—it was a mirror of Yamamoto's smile.

"Lampo, Lambo's brother." The male had the same tousled hair, except that his was a shade of light green. His right eye, like Lambo's, seemed to be perpetually shut.

"Knuckle, Ryohei's brother." He, like Ryohei, had a adhsesive sports tape over his nose. However, instead of short, cropped, silver hair, he had spiky black hair. Apart from that difference, everything was the same, even the—

"NICE TO MEET YOU TO THE EXTREME, SAWADA!"

Yup. He could definitely see the resemblance.

"Daemon Spade," Giotto said cautiously.

"Nufufu/Kufufu," Daemon and Mukuro chuckled at the same time. Tsuna was more than a little creeped out.

"Pineapple brothers," Giotto coughed under his breath. The two males directed irritated glares at him.

"And...Alaude. Fon and Kyouya's half-brother." The raven-haired male glared at Giotto for using his first name. The pale blond, Alaude, stared impassively at him. The Hibari brothers seemed to have adopted the same hairstyle.

"Anyway Tsuna, you'll be seeing them sooner than you think." Giotto smirked. Tsuna gasped. Was that a _smirk? _Oh dear God. That never amounted to something good.

Hayato nudged him with the cup. Tsuna forced his jaw closed and hesitantly drew a stick. He sighed in relief as he saw that his stick wasn't marked and passed on the cup to Yamamoto. The Arcobaleno and Primo Generation were each drawing a stick from a separate cup assigned to their section.

"I GOT THE EXTREME STICK!" Ryohei fist pumped.

"Oya, oya. I got it too." Mukuro seemed disappointed as he sent a glance at Tsuna. Reborn promptly snapped his stick in half and threw it behind him. Skull followed suit. Lampo and Daemon were holding the marked sticks in the Primo section.

"Reborn and Daemon to Decimo. Lampo and Mukuro to Arcobaleno, and Ryohei and Skull to Primo," Luce decided. The sticks were tossed into the fire behind Reborn.

When met with Tsuna's confused gaze, Giotto mouthed "It's tradition." Tsuna looked at Yamamoto, who was staring at Hayato, who was looking at Reborn, who was smirking at Lambo.

Oh.

_Oh. _

Gay tendencies indeed.

* * *

><p>"Tsuna? Did you set your alarm clock early?" Giotto asked from the living room.<p>

"I did!" Tsuna yelled from his room while covering his cell phone receiver. He didn't want to deafen his parents. "Anyways Dad, work is fun, I'm going to start college soon, and life is great," the brunet said, hoping that he didn't jinx himself. "Tell Mama I love her. Tell Fuuta too."

"I will. Good luck, Tsuna." Tsuna smiled as he hung up. He crawled into his bed and stared up at the ceiling, recalling memories of his younger brother until he fell asleep.

* * *

><p>If you think I missed any characters, tell me :'D I'll add them; these characters are included [Tsuna's parents [minor] Bianchi, Fuuta, Basil, VARIA, Millefiore, Oregano, Tumeric, Kusakabe, (maybe) Mochida, Kokuyo Gang, Shimon...yup].<p>

Also, I won't do a poll because 1) I doubt I'll need much persuasion and 2) because I don't know how to set on up.

But I'd like to see who you'd like to see Giotto with. Pretty much all pairings on the side are possible, but the main is either Alaude/Giotto, G/Giotto, or Daemon/Giotto.

Tsuna's decided already, but I can add tidbits of other pairings if you wish - it's allx27 after all.


	3. Behind the Wheel and Roommates

**anydayanywhere, iloveyaoi-G27, **TakeshiYamamoto2980,** Yukichan99, lovepikachu12, Anon **(yes, there will be more cosplay/yaoi in the future), thanks for your support :3

**daemonkieran **True, true. But he can't help it :'3 **RoxasIsReal13 **Sure, I take requests as well, so if you have any, just send them in a review :) **YuujouKami **Thanks :'D I fell in love with RL when I read_ sweet-and-simple_'s fanfictions. **p0l-anka **Thank you :) The only reason why I didn't do that is because I don't rant to rush the 1827 (though I almost always do). **ben4kevin **Yup. Lots and lots of it. **Kichou **LOL, that could very well be the situation. But I think G is just downright unfriendly to strangers o3o Thank you :) ~ **AngelDono **To be honest, I only made her an OC because I wanted her to reappear every so often (and to add a little to the plot). But yes. Ryoko's and awesome OC. 8D LOL everyone hates Mochida :C **Okuri Soji **Thanks ;D I'll explain the pairing info. It's in the paragraph/sentences below the replies to the reviews. **Takara yume **There will be G27, but I think most of it will be brotherly love ;D Thank you - and Daemon is a _hardcore _molester. **Ilyasviel16 **Thanks 8'D Ikr - but I'll explain their personalities a bit down there after the review replies c: **salil-chan **I know, I know ;D And yes - if you have an idea/request for a cosplay, send it to me and I'll see if I can do it :3 Ew no threesomes/love triangles. I hate those. Although there will be slight 182769 / 1827_, it won't be that hardcore.

**Notes: **Hitotsu dake - _only one _[It's one of Tsuna's character songs. You can go check it out if you want, it's so sweet].

[Brackets] - Person on other line of the phone

**Pairing info [Giotto - G/Alaude/Daemon] **

G /Asari are _not _the older version of 8059 (I mean, can you see G as a bottom? No). G is more laid back then Hayato, but they still have equally hot tempers. He's more responsible and cares very much for Giotto's well-being. Alaude/Giotto are kinda sorta like the older 1827, but Alaude's less violent and Giotto's not as clumsy as Tsuna. Daemon, well, is Daemon. There are no words perverted enough to describe his character 8D I don't plan on making everyone in this fic gay.

tl;dr - If you like G/Asari because you like 8059, erase everything you know about that G/Asari pairing.

State of the votes:

**Alaude/Giotto: **| | | | | [5]

**G/Giotto: **| [1]

**Daemon/Giotto:** | | | | [4]

* * *

><p><em>Everything was bathed in white. He stood next to the hospital bed that he has long been familiarized with.<em>

_ "Fuuta..." The honey-haired boy remained motionless as his brother brushed back his bangs to press a gentle kiss against his forehead. "When are you going to wake up?"_

_ The sound of beeping was getting louder, and no matter what he did, he couldn't tune it out. The life support machines started to flash on and off as he desperately called for a nurse._

_ "My brother—make the machines work, make them work!" His voice was shrill now as doctors poured in the room and struggled to fix the medical systems. And that relentless beeping still wouldn't stop—it only continued to get louder._

_ And suddenly, he's running towards a mangled car. He's crying because he knows what he'll find in it, but his body is on autopilot as he scrambled through the crowd of faceless people. _

_ He's only concerned about one person even though there were other passengers. The overpowering beeping sound still wouldn't stop._

_ He wrenched open the door. It was slow to open even though he pushed his whole weight against it._

_ "FUUTA!" _

He woke up with a start. Perspiration was damp on his forehead and coated his back, but there was a pair of strong arms that circled him and held him tightly like a brace.

He was a physical person—he needed physical comfort. Giotto knew this, so he continued to hug him to his chest instead of whispering soothing words in his ear. He wouldn't hear them in his current state anyways.

His recovery time had lessened over the years. Tsuna let his breath out in a tremble as he glanced at the clock. 6:10. It was past time to get up. He nudged his brother.

"Giotto-nii, it's okay to let go now," he said softly. He didn't force a smile on his face when Giotto slowly released his arms and looked at him worriedly. "I had a bad dream," the brunet said in a small voice.

"Oh Tsuna," Giotto murmured as he ruffled Tsuna's hair, comforting him yet again. "Want me to make breakfast?"

"No, it's okay. Go back to sleep, I'll see you at work, nii-chan." The older brother kissed his younger sibling's forehead before shuffling back sleepily in his room.

Tsuna stared up at this ceiling, willing it to give him answers. After a few silent seconds, he grabbed a pair of fresh clothes from his drawer and went to shower.

* * *

><p>He eased slowly out of the parking lot, cautiously checking both sides of the street before stepping on the gas.<p>

Vongola College was surprisingly easy to get to—just a few short blocks from where the cafe was located. He parked his car carefully before stepping onto campus, automatically feeling insignificant as he took in its vast entirety. He flashed his student ID to the guards so they could let him pass through the gates.

He would've gotten lost if not for the detailed directions Giotto had written for him. He stood open-mouthed at the door of his new fraternity house when he finally got there after several wrong turns.

It was huge, almost 5 times the size of a normal house. Before he could even ring the doorbell, the polished wood swung open.

"Hie!" Predictably, he jumped back in surprise.

A stout, slightly short male stood at the door. "Key, please?" Tsuna fished around his pockets for an awkward minute before finding the silver item. The man inspected it before shortly handing I back.

"I'm Giannini, the doorman. Welcome to Vongola."

"Nice to meet you, Giannini-san. I'm Sawada Tsunayoshi, but please just call me Tsuna." The brunet consulted his map again, figuring that he had to take the stairs, and nodded politely at the doorman before he ascended the steps. He admired the paintings and decorations on his way to his dorm room, taking care not to touch anything after he almost knocked an expensive-looking case of its equally expensive-looking and fancy table.

He stopped in front of Room 18, noting that it had a handwritten '27' beside it. He inserted the key, holding his breath as it created a resounding click.

The rising sun cast its beautiful orange beams all over the room, which was not overly large but was still quite spacious. He pocketed his key as he quietly closed the door behind him. One side of the room had stacked boxes piled up on the side—his.

He was making his way over to his packed belongings when he was abruptly pinned against the wall.

"Room. Why are you in it?" his attacker growled, his voice still heavy from sleep. Tsuna squeaked, then peered closer as he realized that the person with the mop of raven tresses was...

"H-Hibari-san?" Yes, definitely him—he can smell the lavender and green tea scent that was so uniquely Hibari.

"Hn, it's just you, herbivore." He relaxed then, and Tsuna was left pinned against the wall by the elder's weight.

"H-Hey. Hibari-san?" The brunet poked him cautiously. No response. When he heard slowed breathing, his eyes widened. _He couldn't be...!_ He tilted his head up to look at the male's face. His long lashes cast shadows under his eyes, and he noticed the slightly dark circles under them. _Hibari-san must be very tired..._ Tsuna took a moment to admire his senpai's striking features before his eyes settled on his lips.

For what seemed to be no reason at all, his heartbeat sped up and his breaths became short.

M-Maybe he could...well...their mouths were just inches away...Tsuna jerked his head back at the treacherous thought, wincing as it hit the wall. No no no no. Bad thought. In all of the movies he watched an in all of the manga he read (okay, he admits he reads shoujo, but at first, it was only out of pure curiosity...), the person always gets caught red-handed. Always. No matter how advantageous the situation seemed to be.

_Well...this wasn't a manga nor a movie. _Tsuna shyly peeked at Hibari from under his lashes. He was still sleeping.

The desire to kiss him was getting stronger. He mentally threw up his hands (since they were pinned down in reality) and resigned himself to his impulses.

Slowly, he closed the distance between them and gently pressed their lips together.

Soft, but firm. Just like the first time. Satisfied, he pulled away. He breathed a tiny sigh of relief when he saw that the elder was still sleeping.

Now...to get Hibari off of him. He wriggled his arms to test how much room they had. Surprisingly, the raven-haired male was more lax than he had thought, because he could easily maneuver him around until they reached the edge of his bed. He gently shrugged the older male off of him and softly placed him on his mattress. Then he rushed back to his side of the room—tripping over a box along the way.

When he safely made it to his bed, he buried his face against his pillow, his nose scrunching up slightly as he took in the unfamiliar smell.

He blushed madly as he recalled the stolen kiss.

Wait.

If Hibari hadn't wanted it, and Tsuna had just about all but forced himself on him...didn't that mean that he had just...

_Hieee! I just m-molested Hibari-san! _

**Hibari POV**

The herbivore continued on arranging his possessions, completely unaware that I was awake, and had been awake ever since he had stepped foot in my room. I winced as he squeaked in surprise when he dropped something—a picture frame, from the looks of it. It was irritably loud.

I sighed inwardly as I cursed my alertness. It made getting a decent amount of sleep a hassle, and there was no way I could sleep through this racket. Even though I went through the trouble of soundproofing my room from the inside _and _the outside, I often left a window open so Hibird could come and go as he wished. The noises herbivores made outside was deafening, much to my distaste, but I wouldn't sacrifice Hibird's freedom. The yellow fluff ball was worth it, and I knew how it felt to be caged.

It was a feeling I wouldn't mind never experiencing again.

I glance at the clock. The red digital numbers read 7:15. I mentally cursed as I saw that I nearly wasted an hour watching the herbivore unpack. It was a boring task, but there was nothing better to do since I couldn't fall back asleep—or so I told myself.

The herbivore—Tsunayoshi—had a head of gravity-defying, light brown hair. It had honey glints in it and often flashed in the sunlight. It also looked soft to the touch. His caramel eyes hid nothing and revealed everything, much like his face. And those coral pink lips—I knew they were soft. He didn't look close to 16, much less 18.

He was too trusting, too naïve. It made me want to curl my lips in disgust and harbor some sort of respect towards him at the same time.

"Hibari! Hibari!" I reached over to pull some birdseed out of my drawer when I heard the telltale chirp. I lifted my finger so Hibird could perch on it, and gazed at him contentedly as he pecked at the food I gave him.

"Is that Hibari-san's bird?" The herbivore slapped a hand over his face in embarrassment a second later. "Of course it is, why did I ask that?" he mumbled. I scowled as Hibird fixed his beady eyes on him. Traitor.

"His name is Hibird."

He gave a soft laugh. It was unlike any one I've heard before. It wasn't sarcastic like that silver-haired herbivore, nor was it easygoing like that baseball herbivore. It was definitely not grossly perverted like the damned pineapple herbivore, and it wasn't as unappealing as that cow herbivore (the herbivore was much more mature than other herbivores his age, and when he laughed, something was usually wrong).

"That's a...fitting name." His smile was genuine.

"Hibird! Love! Hibari!" I raised an eyebrow at the yellow fluff ball's outburst as Tsuna gave a peal of delighted laughter. I knew he was an intelligent bird, but he rarely chirped anything other than my name. I absentmindedly scratched his head while he finished off the seeds. My head snapped up in surprise as Hibird hopped away and spread his wings to fly across the room. He landed in the herbivore's soft nest of hair.

"Er...hello Hibird. I'm Sawada Tsunayoshi." He looked slightly ridiculous introducing himself to the yellow fluff ball, but his efforts were rewarded.

Hibird fluttered down and landed on his outstretched finger.

"Tsunayoshi! Tsunayoshi!"

I scowled as I felt the tiniest twinge of betrayal at Hibird's new found alliance.

As if to make up for it, he flew back to me and nuzzled my cheek.

"Hibird! Love! Hibari!" Although I was pleased that Hibird made clear who his affections belonged to most, I wouldn't let my expressions show—it was still years too early—but my lips dipped in a smile without my permission. I quickly masked it with another scowl as I stood up and walked over to my closet to quickly grab a casual outfit.

Hibird flew away on the way to the washroom. Right before I closed the door, the herbivore called my name.

"Hibari-san!"

"Hn?"

"U-Uh...how long were you awake?"

"Long enough," I answered cryptically as I closed the door.

_New dorm mate, huh? _I smirked.

* * *

><p>Tsuna slipped out of his room quietly. Now that he had unpacked his things and set up his side of the dorm, there was nothing left for him to do but drive to work.<p>

But...wow. _Hibari-san as a roommate? _He pressed his cool hands against his burning cheeks, willing them to fade back to their natural peachy pale color.

He brushed back the worry that Hibari knew that he had kissed him. The raven-haired male had acted normal enough when he had talked to him.

His head brushed accidentally against someone's shoulder.

"Watch where you're going fucker—" The silveret blinked. "Tenth?"

Ah, the nickname Hayato had given him after commending him a job well done for completing ten customers' requests for cosplay—wait, Hayato?

"Yo, Tsuna!" He knew that voice too.

"Hayato-kun? Yama-kun?" _Ehhh? _He slid behind Hayato as he saw a flash of familiar red hair.

G paused in the hallway. "Hey, kid. You rooming with that Hibari brat?" Tsuna cautiously nodded his head, assuming that the 'brat' was Hibari-san. G didn't seem to care who he referred to as 'brats.' The redhead smirked as he walked away, as if enjoying his own private joke.

"Crazy bastard," Hayato muttered as he ran a hand through his silver tresses.

"Welcome to the Vongola Fraternity, Sawada." Fon waved casually as he walked past the trio.

"Whoa, 'grats Tsuna! You're the first newcomer I know!" Yamamoto said as he friendlily slung an arm around his shoulder.

"Y-You—I—how many people—" Tsuna struggled to find the words that were just dancing at the tip of his tongue.

"Everyone that words at the cafe lives here in this fraternity house—we have a sister sorority for the girls. There's also a subdivision called the Varia," Hayato explained, though his lips curled a little at the last part.

"S-So..." Tsuna gulped.

"That's right. You'll be seeing me every day, Dame-Tsuna," Reborn confirmed with a smirk when he walked past them to grab his fedora off the hat rack.

Tsuna died a little inside with that statement.

**Hayato POV**

Out of habit, I reach in my pocket for a cigarette, scowling as I felt only thin air. Takeshi grins that stupid grin of his as hands me a lollipop. I kept on waiting for the day when he would forget to bring one or break his promise, but it never came. Idiots like him made me hope for things that have been out of my reach for almost my entire life.

I unwrapped it—it was raspberry flavored today. They weren't revitalizing like Spanner's were, but I grudgingly let them become a part of my daily routine.

Nobody was surprised when they saw Tsuna in the fraternity's dorms. They had already anticipated Giotto's younger brother moving in—and the tonfa bastard's room had long been in need of a roommate anyway.

I passed on the offer for breakfast—too many mornings with Bianchi still had their lingering effects. I was the first to drive to work. I tapped my fingers absentmindedly on the wheel as I arrived at a red traffic light. My thoughts wandered, eventually settling on the new recruit. He looked fragile and too feminine to be taken seriously, but my respect for him had shot up the roof when I heard that the pipsqueak had actually survived Reborn's tutoring for more than three years. Anyone who had managed to keep sane around that man had to have a mind of steel or some shit.

Now that I thought about it, Tsuna was a lot like Takeshi, but unlike that baseball idiot, he was safe.

Takeshi was dangerous.

I knew it when we first bumped into each other on the train to Namimori.

He was returning from a visit to the countryside, and I was on my way to freedom, more or less. The ride had been a long one, and I was at my nerve's end, so when the train had inadvertently shoved him into me, I snapped.

But he didn't leave. He just laughed.

_"Maa, maa, you're an interesting one, haha! I'm Yamamoto Takeshi." _

The light turned green, effectively jerking me from the memory. I scowled as I floored the gas. Who the fuck gave the baseball idiot permission to invade my mind?

Suddenly, a flashy, dark red sports car swerved in front of me. I stomp on the brakes to avoid crashing into the stupid ass motherfucker and scratching up my baby. The car had been a priceless gift from Shamal, who was the one person in my life closest to a fatherly and brotherly figure. The car in front of me stopped as well.

I opened the door with more force than necessary.

"Watch where the fuck you're going, asshole!" I snarled, not giving a single fuck that I was standing in the middle of the street. I was going to beat that stupid bastard to fucking pulp when he showed his face.

A green-haired male stepped out of the car—I recognized him as Mukuro's brat fourth cousin or some shit. Anyone that was related to that crazy bastard gave me the creeps.

"Fake-prince senpai, you made the silver-haired woman pissy," the petite male said in an eerily monotonous voice completely devoid of any human emotion.

"I'm not a fucking woman," I hissed.

Another male stepped out of the car, one that sported a familiar blond mess that he called hair. My eyes narrowed as our gazes met—or at least I thought they met. I couldn't tell, for as long as I had known him, he had always hid his eyes behind a wall of wild blond bangs like he had something to hide.

His smile stretched into a wide, toothy grin.

"Ushishi~ Looks like we ran into Kitty."

I fucking hate him.

**Tsuna POV**

I give Yamamoto a ride after the awkward-as-fuck breakfast (ever tried to maintain your virgin status with two pineapple-headed rapists eating beside you?), because apparently he usually hitches a ride with Hayato, who had gone ahead today.

Yamamoto is environmentally friendly—but he whistled when he saw my car. I take that as a compliment.

I'm panicking as I drive. Having someone gorgeous in my passenger seat did horrors to my nerves.

It was when I slowed down at a yellow light did Yamamoto finally say something.

"You're cute Tsuna, you know that?" I wrenched my eyes from their fixed position on the steering wheel to stare at his warm chocolate ones.

"W-W-What?" I manage to say in a strangled and admittedly not-very-masculine squeak. My cheeks heated as he ruffled my hair.

"Hayato would've charged that light, but you're so careful," he said with a grin that was doing little to hold back is laughter. I pout a little before turning my gaze back to the top of the steering wheel when the light flashed green.

"I learned for my own safety. Giotto-nii drives like a madman." Yamamoto was still smiling, but there was a slight tilt in his voice when he responded.

"Aw, yeah. Firsthand experience—I was riding shotgun with Asari and everyone else piled in the back. He drove 80 just to shut us up because we were getting too loud."

I winced for him. My brother, the reckless one.

_I want, hitotsu dake, hitotsu dake, to be grasped by this hand_

_ I want to find the strength to protect you now _

I recognized my best friend's ring tone right away. I smiled apologetically. "Sorry, I have to take this." Yamamoto nodded. I kept a firm one-hand grip on the wheel as I wriggled my phone out of my pocket and flipped the lid up with my thumb.

"Enma-kun?" My voice sounded a little breathless, even to me.

[Tsuna-kun. I'm here.] I barely shove down a squeal of delight when I hear the good news delivered in the familiar voice.

"Did you move in your dorm yet?"

[Yeah, Adelheid helped me unpack.] There was a pause on the line as the redhead grunted softly. [I'll be at the cafe near 3. Have to visit Cozart-nii first.]

"All right. Ne...Enma-kun, what's your position?"

[In the back...seamster and apprentice chef.] I pouted when I heard that he wasn't working in the front as a host like I was, but I thought that his job was fitting. Enma was a genius when it came to a thread and a needle. But...

"Enma-kun, do you even know how to cook?"

[Sort of. We took cooking classes, remember? Cozart-nii taught me a few things as well.]

"Oh." I gnawed on my lower lip as I remembered something. "Didn't we fail that class?"

[...See you later, Tsuna-kun.] _Click. _

_...He hung up? _ I stare at my phone in disbelief.

Yamamoto chuckled. "Was that your boyfriend?" I felt heat rush up to my cheeks in record time.

"N-No! E-Enma-kun, he's just m-my best friend—hie!" I shove my phone back in my pocket before I swerve to avoid a very big, very intimidating truck. I rested my forehead against the cool steering wheel when we safely reached another stop light.

My cheeks redden again when I realized something that had the potential to make things very, very awkward between me and Yamamoto.

"Y-You said boyfriend...d-does that mean y-you think—"

"That you bat for your own team?" he finished for me. I gulped, but the baseball analogy was so...Yamamoto-like that it loosened me up a little.

"Er...yeah. H-How did you know?"

Yamamoto smiled. "It never crossed your mind to deny that you're gay?"

_Hie! Why didn't I think of that? But then again..._ "That would be lying," I answered as I furrowed my brow. Reborn would shoot me to death if I wasn't on the straight and narrow path.

He smiled again. "You really are too cute." I blush again as I stepped on the pedal when the light turned green. "Mukuro, do you think he just teases you for fun?" he continued, raising an eyebrow when I nod my head. "Only a few people in the work staff are actually straight. The girls, Gamma, Oregano, and Tumeric...not sure about Basil. But the main point is, most of the hosts are bi."

I was rendered speechless as I pulled in the cafe's parking lot.

"Uh...wow."

"Haha! I know!" I unbuckled my seat belt and stepped out, locking the car behind me.

The first thing I noticed was how pretty the cafe looked inside. It looked just like an ice rink. A red carpet led to the tables. The second thing I noticed was how I was going to end up as as unconscious (perhaps dead if the angle was right) body on the artificial ice because I tripped over an invisible brick (screw coordinated people. _I _can trip over nothing). The sad thing was that I started off on the carpet before the sudden clumsy moment had sent me flying towards the ice.

Yamamoto caught me before I got knocked out. I thanked the gods that I was with him and not somebody else, because I could think of a whole lot of other scenarios and ways it could've ended (with me going splat).

With Reborn: He would stare at me in horror because I'm his personal coffee-holder, and if I go down, his coffee will go down with me. He'll figure that a loss is a loss.

_Splat._

With Hibari: He doesn't care what happens to me.

_Splat._

With Mukuro: He'd be too busy raping the hell out of some random boy/girl/who knows who to notice me.

_Splat._

With Ryohei: He'd try to save me to the extreme, and I'll pull him down with me to the extreme.

_Double splat. _

Okay, so from time to time I _am _prone to melodrama. Sue me.

"Thanks, Yama-kun."

"You weren't even on the ice, haha!" I mope all the way to the locker room.

* * *

><p>It didn't even end on a cliffhanger -facepalm- But tell me if I should continue some first person POV's, or if they were horribly OOC in your opinion.<p>

Yes, that is dramatic!Tsuna.

And who would you guys like to see Enma paired up with? At first, I was considering G/Giotto, but they're losing by a landslide...(I guess I'll have to add so much yaoi on their behalf to convince you that G/Giotto is a perfect pairing)

I'm considering some fluffy friendship 2700, G00, and 8400.

This is an AU, so don't count on only the main protagonists/characters showing up.


	4. Cards and Skates

**ben4kevin, akiko, anydayanywhere, iloveyaoi-G27, Sayaemogirl, Kichou, lilyRose, Akihara Kikumi, HibarixZhen, & TotalAmuto - **thanks for the support :)

**Frangasm **Varia won't be introduced until later (when college starts. or when Tsuna conveniently bumps into them in the dorms). No 182769, have some instead. **AngelDono **Yup. I love skating, it's so fun ;D Whoa lol. "Tsuna is like rice, he goes well with just about everything" _LOL. _**YuujouKami **Gotcha, and I've been trying to fit in RL. It's hard to do so in an all27/1827 fic ;A; Thanks :) **lovepikachu12 **Of course. He knows everything ;) **Takara yume **Ikr, but use the bold sub captions on top to see where you are 8D Of course not, it's an 1827 fic ;w; but I'm planning on some fluffiness on their part. I'm planning to pair him up with-/shuts up. **ChiKazex **Thanks yo. I laughed when I was typing it. 8D

* * *

><p><strong>Glossary:<strong>

_Yakyu-baka_: baseball idiot/fanatic/freak/etc.

_ hakuun no hotori_: a type of Japanese pastry that can be filled with fruit/served with fruit/etc, but is only available during the summer

* * *

><p>A part of this chapter is based off of a German card game called <em>Foltern, <em>or Torture in English. The original way to play it is much more painful, trust me (especially if you lose two times in a row).

**Alaude/Giotto: **6

**Daemon/Giotto: **5

**G/Giotto:** 2

Enjoy!

* * *

><p>Tsuna looked absolutely ecstatic when he saw a <em>male <em>uniform in his locker. He slipped on the comfortable outfit. It was a perfect fit (courtesy of Uni). He was on a high until he saw the ominous gleam of silver.

"Hieee!"

"What's wrong, Tsuna?" Yamamoto finished buttoning up his uniform blazer before he went to check on the brunet.

The culprit seemed to be a pair of ice skates. They were beautiful, and color coordinated to go with the uniform as well.

"Oh, I have a pair too! But we should put it on when we get on the ice, so we don't ruin the floor," Yamamoto said thoughtfully.

Tsuna trembled. "T-Those are _knives _on shoes, Yama-kun!"

"You don't know how to skate?" When he saw the miserable look on his friend's face, he quickly added, "Maa, I'll teach you if you want."

"Of course not. I'll teach Dame-Tsuna." The debonair gentleman smirked as his ex-pupil jumped in surprise at his sudden entrance with Lambo by his side. "Besides, you're horrible at explaining."

Yamamoto laughed. "That's true, Reborn!"

"I-I'd rather not learn and just serve t-them on f-feet—" He shut up as Reborn leveled him with an obsidian glare.

"Yare, yare. Maybe I should teach him instead," Lambo offered helpfully. Tsuna shot him a thankful smile. _Please let it be Lambo please let it be Lambo please let it be Lambo—_

"No."

Tsuna wilted at the immediate rejection as the sable-haired male shot him an apologetic look. _I tried, _he mouthed.

"Maa, maa, Tsuna! I'm sure Reborn's a good teacher!" Yamamoto said cheerfully.

Tsuna sweatdropped. _That's not the point, Yama-kun! _

"If you're not on the ice within a minute, I'll kill off your brother." Tsuna hauled ass out of there.

Lambo, bless his soul, helped him with the laces. He was standing up and gripping the edge of a table in 59 seconds. He had a second to spare. Reborn was very strict about punctuality.

The dark-haired male skated elegant figure eights around him. "Ready to learn?"

"Y-Yes."

Reborn abruptly slapped his hands, the attack causing him to lose his grip on the table and dip forward. He instinctively thrust his hands out in front of him to break his fall.

"If you want to succeed in ice skating, don't let anything become your crutch. Though it seems that you already know how to fall." He smirked. "Less for me to teach."

"R-Reborn! You could've told me first!" he whined as he picked himself up. He wobbled a bit, his arms flailing wildly before he fell back down. Reborn snorted.

"Hold your arms out for balance." Tsuna obeyed the command as he stood back up. This time, he teetered to side to side, but he managed to stay upright. Reborn suddenly landed a light chop to the back of the brunet's knees, which made them bend slightly. "Bend your knees a little." When Tsuna began to lean backwards, the male backhanded his head. "Baka. Lean forwards, not backwards."

"O-Ow." Tsuna rubbed the sore spot on the back of his head as he wondered how the hell he had managed to stay up.

"Now, lean on your weak foot and push forward with your strong one..."

**Yamamoto POV**

I sucked idly on the lollipop Spanner gave me. It was peach flavored today.

"Yare yare, he's going to be dead by the time the cafe opens if Reborn keeps on overdoing it," Lambo commented as the Spartan male delivered another Tsuna another smack on the head.

"But he seems to be getting the hang of it," the blond manager replied. I stare at the curl in his hair for the hell of it. At one point of the day or the other, it was the subject of my curiosity—was it curled, or was it natural? Alas, Spanner never gave anything away (though I imagine the day when my curiosity was piqued enough, I would try to ask Shoichi about it. He would know).

"How many more minutes before we open?" Lambo asked before I interrupted him with a cheer.

"Go Tsuna!" He could skate around without falling down now. I shivered as I saw the sadistic gleam in Reborn's eye—even I could see it, and I was about halfway across the cafe.

"He definitely has something planned," Lambo muttered, almost to himself.

I swear I turned around for _one _second to agree with Lambo, and when I turned back, the area around Reborn and Tsuna was turned in a makeshift obstacle course. I whistled. That was pretty awesome. Now all we needed was for someone to provide some running commentary in the background.

"SAWADA TAKES AN EXTREME NOSEDIVE OVER A TABLE!"

I laughed as the light-haired boxer fist pumped. "Yo, Ryohei! Aren't you supposed to be at the Primo section?"

"SUP YAMAMOTO! I'M EXTREMELY BORED, SO I CAME HERE!"

Lambo winced at Ryohei's near deafening volume. "Please tone it down a little, onii-san." The boxer paid no heed as he continued to narrate (shout) Tsuna's progress.

When I saw Hibari slip past me to make a direct cut to the locker room, I called out a warning.

"Watch out, Kyouya-senpai!"

He turned around to scowl at me. "Don't use my name so casually." I kept on smiling. _Maa, maa, he really needs to lighten up! _My smile quickly dropped after I saw Tsuna launch himself off a ramp (it was made form overturned and oddly angled tables) at Reborn's command. He missed his landing spot by a few inches (Reborn looked suspiciously out of place. I think he had something to do with it. He always does).

"No—Kyouya-senpai—you're really in danger! Look behind you!" Tsuna was clearly struggling to make the sharp turn required to veer away from Hibari, but instead, his efforts propelled him forward.

"Hn, so this is another one of your acts." He narrowed his eyes as his frosty stare turned glacial.

I scratched my head sheepishly. Okay, so I _have _pulled a prank or two on him...but I swear, the schemes were usually 70% Hayato! (But I loved him for it. It disrupted the dullness of the job. In fact, I just love him regardless and—shit. Going too far).

"I promise—" I start, only to be cut off by Tsuna.

"Hieee! Hibari-san! Please move out of the waaaaaaaaay!"

_Well...maybe it was a good thing that this happened, _I thought as Ryohei and Spanner fought back chuckles (Lambo just looked plain scared).

**Hibari POV**

The close proximity of the herbivore's voice jerked me into action. I drew out my tonfas and crisscrossed them as I whirled around in a defensive stance.

His left side crashed into me—I actually took a step back from the force. My eyes widened as I felt my tonfa almost torn from grip. My reflexes kicked in. I forcefully yanked back my weapon—not anticipating to come face-to-face with the brunet that was holding tightly on the opposite end. His overly large eyes were widened in fear, and his lips were quivering—why did I even recognize a detail like that?

The sudden motion caused the herbivore to careen forwards, and he crashed back into me. I groaned inwardly. _So damn clumsy. _Every curve of his body was pressed against mine. In fact, the only place that we weren't practically glued together were our lips, and that was only because of our height difference. It still all added together to an incredibly cliché moment. My only redeeming point was that I didn't let him push me to the ground, so we didn't end up on the floor like in so many of Alaude's horrible French dramas (I found out that being strapped to a chair and forced to watch those pathetic excuses of a film they call dramas as a punishment was almost as effective as getting my tonfas taken away).

I quickly shoved him backwards, only to end up diving to grab his collar because as soon as I let go of him, he started to tumble backwards. I sidestepped his skates carefully. I wanted to keep all ten of my toes. It would be incredibly awkward to fight without them.

I could still feel a slight tug on my left tonfa—it seemed that the herbivore hadn't released it yet.

"Would you let go—" The rest of my words were suddenly halted as my sentence ended with a hiss. The warmth of his palm against my clothed member sent unwanted electric shocks up my spine. _That idiot herbivore! The nerve of him, putting his hands there!_

"Hieee!" He jerked backwards when met with my furious glare. I could feel some heat seep into my face. I wasn't sure if it was anger or embarrassment—maybe a mix of both.

I readied my tonfas. "I'll bite you to death," I growled. The herbivore let out another annoying scream before beginning to place his foot forward to dash away. To my surprise, he turned back around to face me.

He whispered something that I couldn't possibly understand due to its low volume. I was surprised to see droplets of water collecting along his bottom lashes.

I reared back and raised my tonfa, still hell bent on creating an indent on the side of his head. He flinched, and at the same moment, a teardrop made its silent decent to the floor.

My lips curled, but I couldn't summon any disgust. The way I was brought up, tears were forbidden—a taboo. But this herbivore—he didn't even bother to hide anything. _Hn. All the more reason to bite him to death._

But my tonfa stopped a mere half centimeter from digging into his skull. It hovered there for a minute before I retracted it back in my jacket. My own action surprised me. Since when did I learn mercy?

"Nufufu...getting all hot and bothered, Hibari-kun?" I narrowed my eyes when the annoying pineapple-headed male entered my line of vision. I didn't see him enough for him to be the bane of my existence, but he came close. The fact that he was almost an exact copy of my sworn nemesis was normally enough for me to initiate a fight with him, but today I had a slight problem.

I turned on my heel and with as much pride as I could muster, walked to the locker room to change.

* * *

><p>Tsuna was still trembling from the encounter. He kept on muttering 'I need to apologize to Hibari-san', but Reborn paid no heed and continued to push him on further. Ever since the crash with the raven-haired host, his skating skills seemed to have increased dramatically. Reborn smirked knowingly as he tilted his fedora brim down so that it cast an ominous shadow over his eyes.<p>

Ryohei had gone to the other section when the cafe had opened, and all of the hosts save for Hayato had arrived.

Tsuna's brows furrowed at that thought. Hayato should've been here first, considering the fact that he had been the first one to start for the cafe. Couldn't be traffic, because the cafe was walking distance from the dorms.

Hayato completely left his mind when the woman he met yesterday—Ryoko—stepped in the cafe. He hurried to grab a menu as she seated herself at the same table she was at yesterday. He smiled brightly when he saw Hana, who gurgled when she saw him.

"Welcome back, Ryoko-san!" he said happily as he placed the menu in front of her. He stuck his tongue out at Hana as the baby copied his movements.

"Ano...how do you know me? Yesterday was my first day here," Ryoko said confusedly. Tsuna mirrored her confusion on his face.

"Um...I'm Tsuna?" Ryoko's eyes widened.

"From yesterday? Oh my goodness I..." Her arms flailed as she tried to find the words she wanted to say. "Goodness, you're not a...?" Tsuna thought long and hard about yesterday, his cheeks flushing as he remembered that Ryoko knew him as the girl who almost dropped her baby.

"T-There was some issues r-regarding the uniform yesterday, so I had to w-wear a spare one," the brunet mumbled as he ran a hand through his spiked locks.

"Wah!" Hana lifted her arms up as she squirmed around and tossed her blanket over the stroller, as if demanding for Ryoko to let her out of her prison.

The woman seemed to have gotten over her initial surprise and lifted the energetic baby out of the stroller. Tsuna bent down to retrieve the blanket from the ice and deposited it back into its rightful place.

"So are you a college student?" Ryoko asked curiously as she bounced Hana on her knee. "And you poor boy...having to endure that yesterday..." she said, almost under her breath, but her face wore a smile of good-natured humor.

"Yes. I start at Vongola College in a couple of days. Would you like for me to recommend you anything?" Tsuna asked.

"That's great! I heard Vongola College is the finest college in Japan, and it rivals those in the West. And...er...I suppose so," Ryoko said defeatedly as she folded up her menu. "But I'll make up my mind tomorrow," the mother said with a determined glint in her eyes. Tsuna laughed along with her as he picked up the menu.

"Why don't you try our hakuun no hotori? They're in season, and I heard it was one of our chefs' specialties." _I think it was Turmeric, _Tsuna mentally thought.

"That sounds good," Ryoko commented thoughtfully. "Is it possible for me to get a dessert? My friend—the same one who told me about this cafe—recommended me the rainbow jelly."

"Uh huh." Tsuna jotted down her orders and asked if she wanted any drinks. She politely asked for a water. In fine print, he added '_Add extra lemon drops to water. Try to __use mango in the hakuun no hotori/jelly.' _He had managed to subtly glean what her favorite fruit was from her, and she still seemed tired—less than yesterday, but tired nonetheless. The lemon water would help wake her up.

The cafe had only been open for a half hour, so there was only a trickle of customers coming in at the moment. Tsuna was able to chat with Ryoko after he sent her order to the kitchen. They both shared the same opinion about the new, icy décor of the cafe. It was incredibly beautiful, but they saw no point in it (Well, Ryoko pointed out that it would garner more customers because the change in atmosphere was nice, and seeing their hosts in fitted foot wear was kinda cool, but Tsuna had argued back that he had learn how to ice skate in less than 30 minutes, and it was brutal). He got to hold Hana, and it was clear that the baby had taken a considerable amount of interest in him.

He learned that Ryoko had just recently finished medical school and graduated with all the right honors, but she had settled on being a pediatrician so she would be able to see Hana more often.

Her boyfriend—they were planning to get married after college—died in a car accident. He was in a coma for a year before all of his life signs started to suddenly fade and eventually disappear.

So he told her about Fuuta, and how he hasn't woken even in 4 years—he was 9 when he had went into a coma due to head trauma. Even if he woke up now, the possibilities of loss of memory, coordination, and motor skills were very high. They didn't want to pull the plug when there was still the slimmest chance, the slightest shred of hope.

Ryoko was a stranger yesterday. She was a friend today. When she had finished with her food and paid—she tipped him extra, again—they had exchanged numbers and she had departed with her eyes considerably brighter and her heart maybe a little lighter.

The last person Tsuna expected to walk through the door next was a bloodied and bruised Hayato. He hurried to take his customer's order—he hadn't even waited to note their personal tastes.

"Hayato-kun! Are you okay?" Tsuna bit his lip as he took in the state of his fellow host.

Instead of delivering his usual string of curses, the silveret let his kouhai drag him to the locker room. The first aid kit was found easily and soon, Hayato was wincing as Tsuna tried to treat his wounds as gently as he could.

"Yo, Tsuna, need any help in there?" Yamamoto called out. He had realized Tsuna was absent from his tables and without question, had covered them. After a little questioning, someone had said they saw Tsuna rush in the locker room with someone else.

Hayato shook his head frantically. Tsuna took the hint and replied, "No thanks, Yama-kun! I'll be out there soon, just uh, taking care of something!"

For seemingly no apparent reason, Yamamoto chuckled and wished him good luck. Hayato had to smile as well.

"Tenth, you know the way you said that gave yakyu-baka the wrong idea?"

"Uh...how?" Tsuna mumbled around the bandages that were in his mouth.

Hayato just laughed earnestly and gave him no explanation. When the last band-aid was put on, the silveret tested his limbs and deemed them capable.

"Thanks."

"It's not my business to know but..." Tsuna was hesitant to ask. He didn't want to pry into Hayato's life when he barely knew him, but the cuts looked like knife wounds, even if they were shallow.

"Tch. Nothing to worry about. Taught the knife bastard a lesson," Hayato replied before Tsuna finished his sentence, his tone darkening. "Looks like they're calling you out there. You better go."

Tsuna stared at Hayato. The silveret averted his eyes. He knew his senpai was hiding something. The halfhearted way he had talked about the 'knife bastard', him not meeting his eyes when he talked, the overall lack of his hair-trigger temper, _and _him desperately not wanting to be seen by Yamamoto.

"...Okay." But what Hayato said was the truth. He could hear Reborn's voice carry over all the others, even if it was the quietest. "Just ask me if you have any problems, okay?"

What he offered was an olive branch, a compromise. He wouldn't give up on trying to find out who harmed Hayato, but he wouldn't pry as well.

"I will." The silveret's voice was surprisingly resolute.

Tsuna wanted to think that they grew a little closer and their bond a little stronger.

* * *

><p>The brunet stared hard at the four cards in his hands as he waited for Daemon to explain the game. 5 of spades, 5 of hearts, 3 of diamonds and 5 of diamonds.<p>

"This game is called _Foltern_, and it originates from Germany," the blue-haired host finally started. "We're going to play an adapted version. The objective is to get 4 of the same numbers in your hand, and when that is accomplished, you must throw down your cards. The last one to throw down their cards loses. Every time you pick up a card, you must discard one from your hand—the max number of cards you can hold is 4." The blue-haired male's eyes gleamed and Tsuna swallowed nervously. There was a catch.

"Originally, the loser's hand gets "tortured," but in the adaption we're playing..." Tsuna gulped, hard. Reborn's tone had turned completely sadistic.

"Let's say you wouldn't want to find out for yourself," Lambo said as he eyed Reborn warily, who returned his gaze with a smoldering one.

Tsuna shivered. Sexual tension much? He peeked at Hibari, who was subtly making a point on not looking at him. The corners of his lips drooped as he looked back at his cards. Well, he had a good start—all he needed was one more five. Who cares about Hibari-san? _You do, _his subconscious voice reminded him. Tsuna almost scowled.

"Why are we getting paid for this?" the brunet wondered idly as he glanced at the table of girls behind them who had requested this. He was met with four pairs of eyes and a bunch of squeals.

Daemon smirked. "You'll find out." Hibari made a small noise of disgust.

Tsuna concentrated then, because a card was coming his way. Daemon was the dealer, and Lambo was the discard pile. Hibari sat to his right while Reborn was at his left (Next to Lambo, who had a light blush on his cheeks due to something Tsuna's ex-tutor had said).

Occasionally, his hand would brush against Hibari's when he reached for a card. He tried to ignore the pleasant tingle that followed.

His brows became increasingly furrowed as half the deck passed by him but still no five. He gnawed on his lower lip in frustration. When Reborn placed his cards down quietly, Tsuna processed the fact a few moments too late. Hibari threw down his cards a split second later, and Daemon and Lambo followed suit without hesitation. Four pairs of eyes landed on him—eight if he counted the girls behind them—and about twenty if he included the other customers who occasionally stole glances.

Reborn didn't look particularly surprised, whilst Lambo was relieved but looked apologetic; Daemon was chuckling, and Hibari looked so indifferent that Tsuna wondered if the raven-haired host was going to fall asleep.

"So...what do I do now?" Tsuna said to break the silence. Daemon offered a perverted smirk as he collected the cards and started to shuffle them expertly.

"Choose a number and a suit."

"2 of hearts," Tsuna said after much consideration.

"Top or bottom?" the blue-haired male asked, his voice heavy with implications. Reborn snorted in amusement.

"Uh...bottom?" Daemon's grin widened whilst Reborn muttered an 'of course' under his breath.

It didn't take long for Daemon to reach the designated card—for some reason, Tsuna felt that that was a good thing.

"Those are your punishment cards. The higher the number, the more harsh your punishment. Spades signify—" Daemon reached over to brush his fingertips over Tsuna's general chest area, his thumb catching one of the brunet's nipples. The host smirked at the blush that resulted. "Generally, your body. Diamonds means a bite, clubs—a French, and hearts—a simple kiss."

Tsuna flushed a strawberry red. The customers who had the pleasure of seeing it decided that it was a good color on him.

"This is a sick, sick game," Tsuna mumbled before lightly gasping. Daemon had pressed a light kiss against his mouth.

"Dealer goes first," he offered as an explanation with a crooked smirk.

"You might want to unbutton your shirt a little so you can cover up the marks that are going to be left," Lambo suggested helpfully.

"T-There's going to b-be marks?" But Tsuna hastily followed Lambo's advice and left some skin under his collarbone exposed.

"Ace of diamonds." Lambo winced on Tsuna's behalf. Reborn had a little half smirk gracing his lips.

"Coming from Hibari-kun, that will hurt." That little comment from Daemon was the only warning he got before a pair of teeth clamped down on the peachy flesh beside his jugular.

A strangled gasp left his parted lips. He gripped the edge of the rounded table. Goddamn, that _hurt_. The pressure didn't lessen at all as Hibari began to knead his flesh between his teeth, his skin breaking after a few harsh tugs. Hibari lapped at his neck to catch the drops of blood that leaked out, but he could barely feel it through his pain induced fog, but it certainly felt nice.

"Nufufu. I think he might be eligible for a band-aid now, Hibari-kun." The raven-haired host scowled as he pulled away from Tsuna, who was finally just starting to feel a tiny, pleasant side effect from the bite.

Daemon drew the next card. "Four of hearts." Tsuna thanked every deity he could think of. A kiss was awkward enough, he couldn't imagine anything that involved...his cheeks flushed a deeper red. Reborn was his ex-_tutor, _for Christ's sake.

Reborn brushed his lips against his for a second—then he promptly deposited him onto Lambo's lap.

"Six of hearts." _Yes, keep the hearts coming_, Tsuna thought offhandedly as Lambo placed a gentle smooch on his lips.

"Ace of spades."

_Crap. _Tsuna's second thought was, _Wait. Why am I getting all the aces? He better not be rigging the cards. _Tsuna stared at the dealer, but Daemon's poker face (smirk) gave nothing away.

Lambo reluctantly handed the petite brunet over to Daemon.

Tsuna's legs were immediately restrained, pinned down by—were those _chains_? The brunet stared down at the intricate silver and blinked several times. His gaze was broken as Daemon started to rub small circles on his hips.

Reborn smirked. "There's a 99.0196% chance that you'll leave this cafe mentally scarred."

"W-What? Hhh!" Daemon's hands had started to inch upwards to caress his sides. Daemon—_this _perverted bastard was Daemon. How many times had Giotto warned him?

_27 times and counting, _his mind offered. But it was too late now. He needed to adapt to the situation—and quick.

He chose the only reasonable option. Struggling seemed to make it worse, since it made _certain _body parts grind together, and he was getting paid for this, so he couldn't exactly scream rape. Well, it wasn't _rape_, and Reborn would never stand for it (well, he was 90% sure he wouldn't...well, maybe 60% then).

He steeled himself and froze, his body rigid to such a degree that it looked like he was a statue.

"Oya?" Daemon murmured softly as his finger dipped to rub the brunet's navel.

_Wrong move, Dame-Tsuna,_ Reborn thought.

The brunet's body remained stock still as Daemon playfully flicked his nipples, but his breaths were coming out considerably shorter than before. His caramel eyes were fixated on a point on a wall, but they glazed over as his cock was teasingly rubbed.

Shivers crawled up the brunet's spine, breaking his messily thrown together composure. "S-Stop..nnh..stop it..." To Tsuna's dismay, the host showed no signs of even considering his plea. Instead, he persisted even further with his onslaught of feather light touches that were meant to arouse him.

The dealer got the result he wanted—and more. The flushed red host was trembling and leaning towards him, not in total submission but it was close enough for Daemon to confirm that the brunet in his lap was getting incredibly horny. His muffled gasps turned into soft mewls, and precisely, at the moment the brunet's control wavered—

He stopped.

"Nufufu, even an Ace of Spades won't be enough for what I was about to do to your body," Daemon winked as he passed Tsuna on to Hibari. The chains that strapped him down dissipated into cards. _What the fuck? _But logic didn't make it through the brunet's clouded mind.

Tsuna was glaring daggers at Daemon. _Take responsibility, you pervert! _He squirmed around uncomfortably as he felt his erection strain against his pants.

"Stay still, or I'll bite you to death." He immediately froze, but he felt his cock give a tiny twitch. Fuck.

This was not the time for his libido to act up.

"Ten of diamonds," Daemon drawled. "Oya oya, looks like you still get to "bite" him."

"Shut up," Hibari growled irritably as he pulled Tsuna's head back.

_Um. Hibari's hand. In my hair. Feels nice. _He stared aimlessly up at the ceiling. He was steeling himself. The process was not unlike the one he'd go through if he was about to get a shot at the doctor's office.

He felt a light brush against the junction of his neck and shoulder, then the feeling intensified to a degree that he had to let out a small whimper.

He was supposed to be reeling from the pain, not arching his back because what Hibari was doing felt...pleasurable.

"A-Ah..." Tsuna's eyes shot open—when had they closed?—when he heard a moan make its way through his lips. He quickly slapped a hand over his mouth, but not before Hibari, Reborn, and Daemon wore matching smirks. Especially Hibari, who had started to add pressure with his teeth now. His thighs trembled as he felt his sensitive flesh get sucked on. He involuntarily rocked his hips, seeking for friction to relieve the tightness in his pants. Hibari seemed to notice his actions, and with a sigh of frustration, Tsuna noticed that his legs were pinned down by Hibari's hands.

_Dammit Hibari, s-stop it, ah! _The erogenous spot on his neck seemed to be hot-wired straight to his cock, _and Hibari sucking on that spot like there was no tomorrow was _not _helping._

The assault on his flesh was abruptly halted as Hibari half shoved him at Reborn. Tsuna couldn't help but feel a little hurt as he bit his lip. _He's still angry about the ice skating thing...it's all your fault, Reborn! _Tsuna focused his large caramel eyes at his ex-tutor, willing for him to feel the waves of malice that he was directing towards him. The debonair host didn't seem to notice anything, and Tsuna wilted again. _Maybe my killer intent is too weak. _

"Jack of clubs." Tsuna paled. _French? There's no way he's putting his tongue in my—_

"Mmph! Rebpmh!" _No way, no way! _

Reborn smirked into their kiss. _Yes way. _He pushed his tongue through the brunet's lax lips and spent his sweet time exploring the wet cavern. When Tsuna started to pant for air, he took another long moment to starve the brunet from his precious oxygen.

"Reborn!" Tsuna whined as they finally parted. "Y-You're supposed to be my..._trusted _tutor..." he continued, his mouth unknowingly twisting in an adorable pout.

"So? I'm retired. Though you could learn a thing or two about Frenching," Reborn retorted with a smirk. Tsuna blushed a shade of rose pink as he sputtered something about the host only being a couple years older than him.

"Party's over, nufufu. We ran out of cards." Daemon's tone actually contained a little regret as he sighed.

"W-Wait. W-What do I do a-about..."

"Take a shower. Or ask someone to help you," Daemon suggested with a twinkle in his eye. "I'm more than willing—"

"No."

"Damn."

* * *

><p>I don't think that's enough to warrant an M-rating. Not yet. 8D<p>

You can ignore the awkwardness of Yamamoto's POV. I've given up on writing first person for him. It's too hard ;A;


	5. Stuttering Italians and Soup

**YuujouKami, EK12, TotalAmuto, HibarixZhen Kichou, Takara yume, chibi, iloveyaoi-G27, CH0C0CANDYZ, X-CelestialWings-X, **thanks for your support ;D

**ben4kevin **I know, I know. 8D **Just Juliet **Ah...thanks ^-^ But happy belated birthday! **March Rosenqueen **Haha, thanks! Hehe, it does go further ;) **Amaterasu17 **Yes indeed. Haha, thanks. And yeah, it could be that - or the fact that I'm just not accustomed to writing 'I' point of views. **salil-chan **I believe I answered your question through PM, no? :3 Yes, it's 'cause Lambo has a soul, haha!

* * *

><p><strong>RATING HAS BEEN SHOT.<strong>

I officially started working...two days ago. Updates might come a little slower now :C This chapter contains foreign language, so there's gonna be a glossary right down there v. Also, I apologize to all those native speakers. I slaughtered your language(s).

Onion Gratin Soup's recipe comes from _Kitchen Princess _[I love that manga 8D]! There will be more recipes coming from _K.P._ c:

* * *

><p><strong>Italian:<strong>

_Nella pentolino pieno di fumo, c'è poca pappa _All smoke, no fire (It's an Italian idiom).

_Che cosa? _What?

_I-Italiano? _I-Italian?

_Normalmente, direi 'pignatin pien de fum, poca papa ghé', ma non ero sicuro se si può capire. Io sono di Milan. Tu? _Normally, I would say 'all smoke no fire', but I wasn't sure if you would understand. I'm from Milan. You? [Basil says 'all smoke no fire' again but in a Milan dialect].

_Sicilia...Sono stato a Milano per un po...È una bella città _Sicily...I was in Milan for a while. It's a beautiful city.

_Sicilia? Io— _Sicily? I—

_Basilicum _Basil's full name

_Piacere di— _Start of _Piacere di conoscerla_, which means 'nice to meet you'.

_Va bene _It's okay

_Non mi dispiace_ I don't mind

_Davvero? _Really?

_Meraviglioso! _Wonderful!

_É bello _It's beautiful

_Ciao _Bye

* * *

><p><strong>Japanese<strong>

_Mochi _a Japanese rice cake

_Hai _Yes

_Yakyu-baka _Baseball idiot

* * *

><p>Still, it was plenty awkward half-running, half-waddling to the locker room. Tsuna sank down against the wall of the locker room as he groaned. He could definitely feel his erection straining against the high quality fabric of his uniform, but he avoided looking at it at all possible costs. What the <em>fuck <em>was he going to do with it?

Embarrassing as it was, it had been a while since he got himself off. Reborn had prevented that just by his mere presence, and he had been too busy during the last year prepping himself for college to pay attention to his body.

He tentatively touched the tip of his bulge, and nearly doubled over from the shock of pleasure that raced up his spine.

He bit his lip. If it was going to be this _easy, _he might as well go ahead a-and..._masturbate. _His cheeks flamed at the thought.

* * *

><p>"Nnh..." Hibari followed the sound of the soft moan. It couldn't have belonged to anybody else but the herbivore. He rounded the corner to find a secluded area away from the other lockers. As he expected, the herbivore was there. His cheeks were red and surprisingly, his usually wide, caramel eyes were half lidded and his irides seemed to be flecked with amber. His uniform's collar was spread messily and the top few buttons were still undone.<p>

"H-Hah..." Tsuna winced as his moan traveled. He clenched his fist and lifted his hooked index finger up to his mouth so he could clamp his teeth down on it. He stared at his growing problem. _Wouldn't it be easier if I...take it out? _With a burning blush on his cheeks, he began to reach for his zipper when a hand parried his movements. He jerked his head up to identify the intruder, his face turning a darker shade of crimson as he saw slate blue eyes meet his own.

Hibari let a predatory smirk grace his lips. "I pay back my revenge tenfold, Tsunayoshi."

By the time Tsuna registered the fact that Hibari had called him by his full first name and not by herbivore (what was with that anyways?), the host's slender fingers were already perched experimentally on his erection.

He wanted to ask, what revenge? What are you doing here? But all that came out was, "W-Wha rev—nnh...what are you...m-mnnh...h-he—ah!" Tsuna gasped when Hibari's hand rubbed against his arousal in a stimulating manner, and instantly reprimanded himself by biting down on his finger. The shock of pain wasn't enough to break him through his lust clouded mind. The raven-haired host chuckled at the brunet's incapability of speech that he had caused. If he possessed a different mindset, he would even go as far to call it _cute_.

A knee went between Tsuna's legs to part them further. The brunet trembled harder as Hibari dug his thumb into his sensitive slit and applied just enough pressure to tease. There was something important hovering at the back of Tsuna's mind, but he immediately forgot what it was as Hibari purposely grinded his knee against his cock. He bit harder on the finger between his teeth to prevent another moan from materializing.

"Hhh..." Tsuna's hips involuntarily rocked against Hibari to seek more friction. The raven-haired host raised an eyebrow as he abruptly ceased his movements. The brunet whined at the cancellation of such a pleasurable activity.

The next thing Tsuna knew was that his back was pressed flush against the wall, his body parallel to Hibari's. He had to tilt his head up to look him in the eyes, and a slight stab of irritation pricked him as he realized just how much shorter he was.

Hibari gripped his hips and lifted them off the wall. Tsuna instinctively wrapped his legs around Hibari, their bodies pressing impossibly closer. He began to demand an explanation.

"What—"

"Midget herbivore."

"Hey!" Tsuna glared furiously at the raven-haired host. He meant to shove Hibari away, he really really did—but apparently his body had other ideas, and his hips thrust upwards against the skylark's body. Electric tingles resulted from the movement.

"A-_Ah_..." His face burned as he devoted all of his effort into shutting himself up. Heat was starting to coil in his belly.

Hibari smirked down at him. Well, the herbivore had initiated it. Without warning, he ground his hips against the smaller host, a sadistic gleam playing in his eyes as he saw Tsuna's desperate attempt to muffle his moan.

He was surprised when Tsuna rocked his hips back—maybe he had pegged him as a weaker herbivore than he actually was. The doubt was gone from Tsuna's gaze now, and Hibari noticed his eyes had turned into a completely different color. His irides had turned amber and his pupils were a shade of red orange. He didn't know anyone whose eyes did that.

Tsuna continued to grind against Hibari until he was almost stealing the pace from him. The raven-haired male ground his hips faster and harder, driving Tsuna into the wall. From the harsher pants and muffled moans that the brunet couldn't possibly hold back, Hibari guessed that he was getting closer.

Tsuna thought he tasted blood as Hibari mixed in a particularly rough thrust with his powerful movements.

He was finished when Hibari bit down at the sensitive spot on his neck that he had marked earlier, the heat in his lower abdomen tightening painfully before exploding and turning his vision white.

"Ah!" He jerked his head back into the wall as he bit his teeth deeper into his wounded finger. He slumped down when Hibari removed his support. The raven-haired host didn't miss the way Tsuna's eyes reverted back to their original caramel color.

"Ne..."

Hibari didn't stop, but he raised an eyebrow. The herbivore could still muster up some words?

"Does that mean you're not mad at me anymore?" Tsuna asked in a surprisingly calm voice when the skylark was inches away from the door.

Hibari's eyes widened fractionally. This herbivore was interesting. "Maybe," he responded cryptically.

Tsuna let his breath out in a noisy _whoosh _after he was sure the host had froze as he thought back at what Hibari.

_I pay back my revenge tenfold, Tsunayoshi. _

His boxers were wet with his cum, and he hadn't thought about it in the middle of their...session. His cheeks burned. There was no way he could walk around wearing the dirtied boxers, and he didn't bring a spare.

Fuck. Hibari got him good.

* * *

><p>Daemon wasn't particularly surprised when Tsuna emerged with his hair dry. He had saw Hibari earlier with a smirk that gave away everything. He shrugged. Giotto's kid brother wasn't as good as the real thing. He could picture the wild blond hair spread messily over his pillow now, the pouting pink lips, his flushed face, his pants as he neared his cresting high...<p>

Lambo glanced warily at Daemon. Though he was submersed in his thoughts, the smirk on his face spelled danger for a certain blond.

Tsuna dutifully waited his tables, though he visibly blushed whenever he was near Hibari. The reaction never got old for Reborn. Just to stick it into him some more, he dragged Lambo to fulfill a customer's request in front of him. The sable-haired male didn't notice as he moaned with Reborn's every touch.

"R-Reborn...don't you think that, h-hah, t-this is eno—ah, enough?" Reborn smirked as Tsuna covered his face with his hands and stumbled away, almost bumping into Hibari in his haste.

But...back to business. "No, cow." He started molest—touching him again. This was consensual, just like Hibari and Dame-Tsuna, except that his student was too dense to notice it.

* * *

><p>"Oi. It's G's—" Before Hayato could say another word, Tsuna squealed as he ran over to the door.<p>

"Enma-kun!" The silveret was left in the dust as he tried to process what just happened. He twitched as he saw Tsuna usher someone in—he looked like Cozart, but he was shrimpy—maybe even shorter than Tsuna. He never knew Cozart had a kid brother.

Then G's boyfriend in all his glory walked in. He wore his trademark hat, the one that G always delighted in taking off when—oh God. Hayato shook his head. _Don't even think about it. _

"Hey, is that Cozart?" Yamamoto questioned as he twirled a tray. Hayato jerked in surprise, concealing his wince at the sudden movement. Thankfully, Tsuna's expert bandaging prevented a lot of pain.

"Don't spin the tray like that, idiot! What if it drops?" he snapped.

"But I won't drop it," Yamamoto stated matter-of-factly. Hayato hated that he was right. He wasn't even trying to brag.

"Yeah, it is."

"And that seems to be Enma," Yamamoto observed as he arched an eyebrow. "He looks...kinda different than what I envisioned him as."

"Tch. You know big words too?"

Yamamoto laughed as Hayato bristled. "And how do you know who he is anyways?"

"When Tsuna was giving me a ride, he was talking to someone on the phone. Enma is obviously someone he cares about a lot." Hayato noticed the way the baseball player's eyes were staring straight into his.

He was the first to look away. "Get back to work, idiot."

Arms wrapped around his hips. A feather light kiss against his jawline. "I am at work." _Damn customers, fuck you (and thank you)._

Hayato relaxed against his will. This was the only part of work that he could be himself. If Yamamoto thought there was anything odd when they were together like this, he could blame it on the acting.

"Takeshi..."

* * *

><p>Cozart left for the Primo section after he made sure that Enma was settled in nicely. Tsuna's earlier bout of enthusiasm affected anyone he came into contact with.<p>

"I guess I'll see you in the kitchen once in a while, Enma-kun! I have to go back to my tables now," Tsuna said apologetically. Enma nodded and waved goodbye, but not before noticing something.

"Tsuna-kun?" Enma lifted his hand and pointed to his index finger. Tsuna's was wrapped in a band-aid.

"O-Oh, it's n-n-othing," Tsuna stammered.

"Tell me later," Enma said as he tied the apron around his waist.

"Okay."

When Tsuna was out the door, he stopped dead in his tracks. He just admitted there was something up. _And _he was going to have to tell Enma.

Crap.

* * *

><p>"Kozato-dono? Canst thee get me an onion? The refrigerator is just over yonder." The redhead silently opened the pristine white door, closing it as fast as possible after he found the potato. The cold air was seeping under his thin shirt.<p>

He silently handed the dairy product over to his senpai, who thanked him. The slightest tinge of a blush touched his cheeks when Basil looked away.

He was assigned Basil's apprentice. He didn't end up washing dishes like he thought he would. Instead, he helped the chef whenever he asked for something, and occasionally he was allowed to cook something.

He could tell what the order was when he saw the ingredients piled up on the counter. A block of consommé, butter, some shredded cheese, grated cheese, and the onion that he brought from the refrigerator. There was something missing.

"French bread," he muttered under his breath.

"It's right here!" Basil said as he bustled out of the pantry. Enma blinked.

"...Mochi?" The chef blushed as he shook his head.

"Ay. Look here." He pointed to Tsuna's neatly detailed order.

_Onion Gratin Soup. More inclined to Japanese culture than to French, use mochi instead of the regular French bread?_

Enma blinked his eyes in amazement. Now if only Tsuna could be more attentive in other things...like school. Not that he had received a failing grade since Reborn, but still. And he must have brushed up on his culinary knowledge, because he was sure that what they learned back in high school wasn't sufficient. The principal almost dying from one of their pies large contributed to their failing grade (hey, no one told them that he was allergic to canned peaches).

"The lad...thy best friend is honest," Basil smiled as he deftly cut the onions into thin strips.

"Yes...Tsuna-kun is."

A comfortable, mutual silence stretched on between them until Basil pushed the onion slivers into a neat pile besides the redhead.

"Kozato-dono. I've been wondering, why has thee come to this cafe?" Enma was suddenly absorbed in his task of heating the butter.

"I uh...Cozart-nii...that is..." the shy redhead mumbled as he put the onion in the pan when the butter finished melting into its liquid gold state. "I...wanted to support myself through college, and I wanted to do something I enjoyed," Enma said softly as he absentmindedly pushed the onion slices around. It looked like they were sauteing well.

"Why this cafe though? There are many spread across Namimori," Basil commented as he added a block of consommé in the boiling pot of water. "Ah, by chance, art thou going to attend Vongola College?" Enma nodded as he blushed slightly. _It helped that Tsuna-kun applied for a position and got in...and that Cozart-nii said that this cafe had the best (pastry) chefs._

The chef slid the rest of the ingredients towards his apprentice, giving him the okay to cook the rest of the dish.

"_Nella pentolino pieno di fumo, c'è poca pappa._"

"_Che cosa?_" Enma responded on reflex, his eyes widening as he stared at Basil. "_I-Italiano?_" _N-Now that I notice it, he does look Italian..._

The chef smiled as he started to whip some egg whites in a bowl. "_Normalmente, direi __'pignatin pien de fum, poca papa ghé', ma non ero sicuro se si può capire. Io sono di Milan. Tu?_" Enma envied the way Basil's Italian flowed smoothly. He spoke mostly Japanese since Tsuna didn't understand Italian, and through years of little use, his hold on his native language got a little rusty.

"_Sicilia...Sono stato a Milano per un po...È una bella città,_" he added as an afterthought.

"_Sicilia? Io—_"

"Stop chatting and get to work, Basilicum!" someone chastised crossly. "Don't get caught up in his Italian, kid. He's just happy that he can finally talk to someone."

"O-Oregano!" Basil interjected, a light blush on his cheeks.

The light brown-haired woman let her eyes soften a little when she saw the nervousness in Enma's eyes. "I'm Oregano, and that's Turmeric." She pointed to the tall man across the counter. "Lussuria's usually here, but when things on Uni's side gets busy, he goes to help. Be glad you don't have to meet him yet." Enma shivered a little as he stirred the contents of the pan.

"_Piacere di—_I-I mean nice to meet you." The redhead blushed. _I didn't mean to say it in Italian..._

"It's okay. We know a 'lil Italian ourselves," Turmeric said gruffly as he slung an arm around Oregano. "In any case, nice to meet you too." The redhead blushed again as he bowed his head in respect.

"Now get back to work," Oregano said with finality as she shrugged off Turmeric's arm. Basil sighed when her back was turned.

"Sorry, I just assumed that since thou was Italian—"

"_Va bene,_" Enma muttered as he carefully poured the consommé soup in the frying pan when the onion turned a favorable dark yellow color. "_Non mi dispiace._"

"_Davvero? Meraviglioso!_" Basil's eyes lit up with delight and the two chatted away in Italian, Enma slightly faltering at first, but as time passed, he found out that he had a firmer grip on his language than he had expected.

When Enma carefully lifted the finished Onion Gratin soup out of the microwave, Basil wiped his hands on his apron and went over to check on the finished dish.

"_É bello!_"

"..." _Beautiful? The soup?_

Basil nodded, as if he read Enma's mind. "Food is beautiful, no? It can feed people, get people together, make strangers friends...it's just beautiful." The heartfelt statement was followed by a blinding smile that almost made Enma wince from its sheer brightness. The redhead was unaware of the light shade of red that adorned his cheeks.

"Enma-ku—whoa." Tsuna's brow furrowed slightly in concentration. "You know from that position, it kinda looks like you're kiss—" Enma reared back before the brunet could finish his sentence. He hadn't noticed when Basil had gotten so close to him over a bowl of soup.

"_É bello._" Enma flushed a darker red as he realized he had repeated Basil's earlier words out of sheer nervousness.

"_C-che...cosa?_" The redhead's eyes widened almost to a comical level. Too many surprises in one hour.

"Y-You know Italian?" Enma stuttered.

Tsuna tilted his head innocently. Enma noticed the way his hair always seemed to bounce when he did that.

"...No." The redhead suppressed a sigh. "But," Tsuna continued, "Giotto and G speak Italian all the time, and I got uh...sort of..." the brunet blushed pink. "Um...mad? B-Because I never understand what they're talking about!" Tsuna said in his defense as Enma repressed the urge to roll his eyes at his best friend's antics.

"So..." Giotto-dono taught thee?" Basil asked as he placed the bowl of soup in Tsuna's tray.

"I only know a few words or phrases, like..._ciao!_" The host smiled mischievously as he whisked the tray off the counter and walked out with a backwards wave.

"The lad had a sense of humor," Basil commented. "Though if I ever catch him being cheeky..." the chef brandished an eggbeater. Enma couldn't hold back a laugh.

"You two will find yourselves on the end of my spatula if you don't get back to work," Oregano threatened.

"Hai," the two chorused. There were no fun and games after that (Oregano looked quite capable with that spatula), but they shared a few laughs when they were sure their senpai chef couldn't hear or see them.

* * *

><p>Tsuna gulped. The way Daemon was smirking at him like he knew what was going on more than creeped him out. Even though he hadn't made any passes on him for the last couple of hours, he could be lying in wait, hiding low, biding his time...Tsuna shook his head frantically to dispel the thoughts. He was being too paranoid...right?<p>

_You can never be too paranoid enough around Daemon Spade._

Giotto's words kept on ringing in his head. Tsuna shifted uncomfortably on his feet. He was glad that the uniform wasn't scratchy or anything of the sort. It could've been worse.

_Poke. _Something prodded into his side.

Huh?

_Poke. Poke. Po—_

"Hieee!" That went _way _too close to his nether regions for comfort. He turned around to glare at the culprit, only to smile when he saw that it was Yamamoto, who was skating figure eights around him.

"Hi, Yama-kun. Do you need something?"

The baseball player smiled back easily. "Not really, but did you notice something strange with Hayato today?"

Tsuna froze at the mention of the silveret. _W-What should I tell him? _He gnawed on his lower lip as he thought about how Hayato was so against on seeing Yamamoto.

"I-I think you should give him some time," Tsuna said carefully. "But not some time alone, or he'll think you're ignoring him."

"Thanks, Tsuna!" The brunet squealed as he was lifted in the air. "You're the best advice-giver ever!"

"Oi! Put the Tenth down!" Yamamoto grinned as he heard the familiar voice.

"Alright, pass!"

"Wait, Yama—Hieee!" And he went sailing through the air. He was sure that he was going to hit the ground, but instead, strong arms caught him with a firm grip. "Oof."

"Yakyu-baka! What if I didn't catch him?" Hayato was positively fuming. _Ah, that's right, Hayato's wounds are still fresh..._

"That wouldn't happen, haha! 'Cause you're the best uke!"

Hayato dropped Tsuna.

And then caught him again.

But not before the brunet was mentally traumatized. _T-Those skates could've s-skewered me._

Hayato gently set Tsuna down. Tsuna noticed that the silveret's hands were shaking.

"W-What the hell are you saying?" Hayato yelled. An almost unnoticeable blush dusted his cheeks.

"A-Ah, you play baseball too, Hayato? Yamamoto told me he played but..." Tsuna brushed aside his bangs that had fallen over his face. "Is it fun?"

"Of course! I'm heading over to the batting cages tonight with Hayato. Wanna come?"

"I never said I was going!" the silveret interjected.

"Do you not want to come, then?" Yamamoto said, his smile drooping a little.

"I guess I have no choice if you put it that way," Hayato muttered. The last part was inaudible.

"Sweet! How 'bout you, Tsuna?"

"Can I bring a friend?" Tsuna asked tentatively. "If it's not a bother." _But I really want to change into boxers...oh well._

"Sure! The more, the merrier!"

He still didn't understand how that translated into half the cafe showing up at the batting cages. Did Yamamoto invite _everyone_?

* * *

><p>Yay for failing at Basil's whole accent thing he has going on. And also for unintended innuendo between 8027/59.

First lemon/lime/whatever citrus fruit you wanna call it in a while. Getting rusty.

And also, for you guys that can't follow the Italian conversation:

**Basil:** All smoke, no fire.

**Enma:** What? I-Italian?

**Basil:** Normally I would say _all smoke, no fire_, but I wasn't sure if you would understand. I'm from Milan. You?

**Enma:** Sicily...I was in Milan for a while. It's a beautiful city.

(Geography lesson! Milan and Sicily are cities in Italy).

**Basil:** Sicily? I—

_Oregano cock block right here _

(ahaha...just kidding...sort of).

**Basil:** Sorry, I just assumed that since thou was Italian—

**Enma:** It's okay. I don't mind.

**Basil:** Really? Wonderful!

**É bello means 'it's beautiful.'**

* * *

><p>Haha, I hope this chapter wasn't too confusing. I still take suggestionsrequests on pairings you guys would like to see ;D

Yes, that's some 8400 right there. And also some G/Cozart and maybe Daemon/Giotto.

I haven't decided yet if Giotto would be paired with Daemon or Alaude (the votes are like, _one _tally apart).

Next chapter will feature batting cages!


	6. Batting Cages and Sushi

First, I apologize. There's no excuse to suddenly quit writing without warning and then come back and then quit again (was that a run-on)? I am continuing this fic and my class reunion fic for sure, and I've been trying to pick up my other fictions. School is busy for me, so I'll try to run updates in between spare moments. Also, I had this **big gigantic wall of review replies, **BUT DO YOU KNOW WHAT I DID? I X'D THE TAB OUT, DAMN IT. I X'D IT OUTTTTTTTTTTT /ragequit. And me being the person I am, did not save any of it. I am a lazy person by nature. I'm not going to re-reply to these reviews, although the ones I really wanted to reply to I already have through PM. Thank you, my readers and reviewers. You don't know how much a review can cheer an author up or bring them down.

Enough of my babbling. I hope Chapter 7 won't be too bad in terms of grammar and spelling (no spell check. I curse my school laptop). Enjoy!

* * *

><p>"I know how to bat! Really! Geeeeeee!" Giotto whined childishly as his best friend corrected his batting form.<p>

"Nufufu, Lal and Colonello are really going at it," Daemon commented.

"Lal, why do you hit so hard, kora!"

"Show me what you got, brat! I'll beat you any day!"

"I'LL DO THIS TO THE EXTREME!"

"I'LL BAT TO THE LIMIT!"

"SHUT UP TURF TOP! YOU TOO, BAND-AID!"

Asari casually stuck corks in his ears.

"Yare, yare. I'll be deaf by the time this is over," Lampo complained.

"At least Squalo—"

"Don't." Lampo glared at Knuckle for even mentioning the taboo name.

"G! Go annoy Alaude instead!" Giotto complained.

"Sawada Ieyatsu." The air suddenly felt suffocating and full of killing intent. "Dragging me to this place was bad enough. If you go any further, I will—" Alaude paused to swing.

_Congratulations! You hit a home run at 107mph. _

"Arrest you," he finished, his hand dangerously close to the handcuffs hanging off his belt. "And then I'll smash your face in with this baseball bat."

Daemon apparently had no sense of self-preservation. "Nufufu, what a crude way to show your affections." Alaude's eyes narrowed.

"Oh? Why should I listen to you, _insect._"

"Oya oya, I'm hurt." A scythe materialized in his hands. "Shall we finish this the good old fashioned way?"

Alaude sneered, a look of utter contempt on his face as he reached for his handcuffs. "With pleasure."

"Wait!" Giotto obviously lacked survival instincts as well, because he ran in between the feuding duo. "Why don't you settle this with baseball instead?"

"Nufufu, anything for you, Primo-sama." Giotto inwardly twitched at the nickname, but managed to keep his outer composure calm.

"Hn..."

And so, the battle for Giotto's love commenced (**Giotto: **W-What? It's nothing of the sort! **Daemon: **Nufufu. I'll definitely win this for you. **Alaude: **…)

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, a certain no-good duo was struggling with the basics.<p>

"It's not hard, thou can do it if thou wishedst."

"You almost got it, Tsuna! Just bend your knees a little more!"

"Here, Kozato-dono. Like this." Enma found himself bending and curving into the right places every time Basil gave him a soft command. "Move thy grip down. It is a little high." Enma slid his clenched fingers lower. "Now back up a little, and place thy foot a little further front." Basil nudged the redhead's foot forward. "Bring the bat back—yes like that," he praised when the redhead correctly set up his batting stance. "When thou swingeth, release thy energy and try to extend thy arm a little further than last time. I'll put a ball in." Enma gulped as the machine ringed and chucked a ball at him. He squeezed his eyes shit and swung blindly.

_Thwack. Your speed is 84mph. _

"Good job, Kozato-dono!"

Despite Enma's progress, things at Tsuna's end weren't exactly looking up. The brunet couldn't hit the ball at the right angle.

"I'll adjust the height limit. Here's a tip—just imagine the ball is someone you don't like, haha!"

"Someone I don't like?" Tsuna chewed on his lower lip. "I don't have someone like that."

"Just imagine the ball is the pineapple bastard," Hayato said helpfully.

"Oya oya, that's not nice," Mukuro said, with a hurt look on his face.

"Tch. Watch this."

_Swing._

_Congratulations! You hit a home run at 97mph._

Hayato smirked. "Works every time."

"But Tsunayoshi doesn't feel that way about me...right?"

_Congratulations! You hit a home run at 101mph. _

"Whoa. Good job, Tsuna!" Yamamoto whistled. "For your first hit too!"

"Thanks, Yama-kun," the brunet intoned.

"Tsunayoshi-kun—"

"Don't bother me."

"So cold."

Tsuna's swings were fluid motions, like he was never clumsy just a minute ago. His eyes were flecked with amber. _Hibari-san._

* * *

><p>Alaude won by a narrow margin.<p>

"Nufufu, you can't determine anything with a ball and a bat. Let's settle this like real men." Daemon's scythe made its reappearance.

Alaude smirked, handcuffs in hand. "Gladly."

Giotto sighed. "A loss is a loss, Daemon."

_Swing. Shatter._

_Warning—if you break another piece of property owned by this batting cage, you are violating rule no. 17, and you will be escorted out immediately. _

Giotto smiled sheepishly when G gave a look that said _I told you so. _

"Wait, Primo!" Giotto turned around to face Knuckle.

"Winner should get an extreme victory kiss," he said seriously.

Giotto didn't miss a beat in answering. "Later." Knuckle was always starting something with him and Alaude (which he appreciated), but it was somewhat strange, because his father was a priest.

"Hey, who wants to bet on who can hit the hardest? Winner gets Giotto's body," G declared, instantly causing everyone nearby to shift their attention to him.

"_What_?" The blond abandoned his baseball bat and leapt on his best friend. "Son of a bitch, don't make my body a prize!" G cackled as Giotto pounded his fists against his back. "Maybe I should throw in your virginity too."

"EXCUSE ME TO THE EXTREME!" Knuckle yelled into a megaphone that he must've pulled out of thin air. Only Asari remained oblivious to Knuckle's amplified voice—Giotto was going to have to ask him for some of those corks someday.

Everyone else flinched.

"We're going to have a contest. Whoever hits the most extreme ball wins. Winner gets Giotto's virginity," Knuckle said seriously, his face totally blank of humor. "And uh..." G whispered something in his ear. "And they also get treated to dinner."

"Haha, that sounds—"

"If your name is Yamamoto Takeshi, you may not participate."

"Aw!"

"Knuckle! Don't stake my—"

"You get three balls. Commence!"

"KNUCKLE, GIVE ME THE DAMN THING!"

"Yes boss!" Knuckle chucked it to Giotto, who immediately raised it to his mouth.

"Just to set thing straight—"

"Which you're not, kora!" A few sparse chuckles here and there followed the comment.

Giotto glared at Colonello. _You bastard, I am _so _going to tell Lal about that time when we were little and you dressed up in girl clothes. _"My vir—" The megaphone was snatched away from the blond.

"It's still on!" G then proceeded to smash he amplifier into smithereens.

"G..." Killing intent swamped the area.

"Think of this as payback for showing my baby pictures to Cozart."

"Oh G..." The blond pulled his best friend closer by his collar. "If I lose it to Daemon, I'll never, ever forgive you." G's grin widened.

"You won't. Alaude will suffice." The redhead cracked up. Giotto's glare (pout) did nothing to sober him, though he got the message when Giotto swung the bat near his crotch area.

"Just kidding. I won't let that bastard touch you—oh hell, I think your brother's winning."

"Nice try G," Giotto growled, "You're still going to die."

"No, seriously. Look at the scoreboard. He's number 27." Giotto's eyes trailed over the numbers until he reached 27.

Holy shit. His little brother was whooping _ass. _

Wait. "I think this is the first time Tsuna has ever held a baseball bat in his whole life."

"Baseball is easy. You just hit balls with a stick," Lampo drawled.

"Why aren't you playing? G has an excuse; I'm going to kill him later," Giotto said before looking at the scoreboard again.

Lampo sniffed in disdain. "This is _so _beneath me. And I have no interest in your virginity."

"Yeah, who cares." G rolled his eyes not-so-subtly. _More like you can't hold a bat to save shit. _"Your brother, Alaude, and Daemon are a couple points apart, and this is the last ball."

Giotto sent a swift prayer to every deity he could think of. _Anyone but Daemon._

It seemed that the gods were on his side today, because his prayers were answered.

_Congratulations, player 27!_

"Aw. I was looking forward to a night with Primo-sama." Daemon, to his credit, looked disappointed.

_Tsuna, you saved me! _Cue joyous running to one's little brother. He halted when he saw Tsuna's eyes. _Why aren't they brown? _

"Tsuna?" His call seemed to snap the brunet out of his reverie.

"Yes, Giotto-nii—"

"Good job, kid." Colonello gave him a congratulatory pat on his back which seemed to have a little too much force behind it, because it almost send the brunet face first to the ground.

"Colonello/military bastard!" Giotto and Hayato shouted at the same time.

"Sorry," the blond replied somewhat sheepishly as he readjusted his bandanna. "You okay, Sawada?"

"Y-Yes, Colonello-san." Giotto noticed his eyes had reverted to their original color. "What did you want, Giotto-nii?"

"Thanks for saving me."

Tsuna smiled. "Anything to save your chastity," he said half jokingly. Giotto would've hugged Tsuna to an inch of his life if not for the fact that a crowd had already assembled around them.

"What was your trick?" Giotto asked in a whisper to Tsuna as he put up his batting equipment.

"Huh?" The brunet furrowed his brow. "I don't really remember." Giotto arched his eyebrows. _Huh._

"So, who's going to dinner with us? It's on the house for you, Tsuna!" Yamamoto said with a grin.

"I'm extremely late to a meeting with someone. I can't go," Ryohei said apologetically.

Colonello and Knuckle started catcalling.

"Is it Kurokawa, kora?"

Ryohei grinned as he put up his bat and inserted his payment into a machine. "It extremely is."

"I would love to go," Daemon started, "But I have places to go, people to—"

"Rape," Lampo coughed under his breath.

"Oya, being cheeky now?" Daemon pressed his scythe against the male's throat.

"G-Giotto!"

"Daemon, stop scaring Lampo." Giotto glared at the pineapple-headed male.

"Scary? Me?" The scythe disappeared in a flash. "Nufufu, I'm not _scaring _Lampo." Daemon started to stretch the male's cheeks. "See? We're just having fun." The blond face palmed but let it go.

G cleared his throat. "Besides Ryohei and Daemon, who else can't go?" he asked when everyone had gathered around him.

"Oregano-san and Turmeric-san already left," Enma said softly.

"So did Skull and Verde," Asari said. "Knuckle left with Ryohei, and Lampo is leaving right now."

"Colonello and Lal are sneaking out," Yamamoto observed.

"Shit, we got caught, kora."

"It's all your fault, idiot!" Lal hissed.

"Well, have to go to prior engagements, kora."

"Like a date?" Yamamoto guessed.

"Yeah—"

"It's not a date!" Lal denied vehemently with a light blush that was slowly reddening.

"It's just a...take-your-beautiful-girlfriend-out-to-a-nice-restaurant kind of thing, kora."

Before Lal could protest, Colonello scooped her up in a princess hold and whisked her out.

"So...a date, right?" Enma said confusedly.

"Thou hath cometh to the right conclusion."

"Kufufu, looks like he's going to get some tonight."

"Shut up, Mukuro. There are children here." The blue-haired male smirked at the blond. They both knew what he was thinking. _Only your brother Tsunayoshi-kun is a child here._

"So the only ones going are us..." G did a head count. "10." After confirming who was going he asked, "Where do you guys want to eat?"

The silence of contemplating was broken by a giggle. "Stop it, Mukuro." Eight pairs of eyes fixated on the duo. Mukuro looked like he was tickling Tsuna. Giotto twitched dangerously.

"Kufufu, give me a good reason why."

"Because he said so, pineapple freak!"

"That doesn't count as a valid reason, octopus dog," Mukuro retorted.

"What in all seven hells is an octopus dog?" Hayato spat.

Mukuro sighed. "How many times do I have to tell you, puppy. There's only six hells."

"Oi, so now I'm a puppy? Why the hell—"

"Nnha...stop fighting, you two," Tsuna pleaded with a light flush on his cheeks. _Someone help me!_

Yamamoto looked down when he felt a light tug on his sleeve. "Oh hi, Enma!"

"Yamamoto-san. Tsuna-kun...can you...help?"

Yamamoto paused briefly before breaking into a large grin. "Sure." He nudged Hayato and whispered the plan into his ear. The silveret rolled his eyes but nodded.

"Whoa! Hibari has a girlfriend?" Heads snapped towards where Yamamoto was pointing at a speed that Yamamoto feared they were at risk for a whiplash. Even Giotto spared a glance from his preparations for killing Mukuro.

The distraction bought enough time for Hayato so snatch Tsuna away. Yamamoto smiled sheepishly.

"Maa, it'd be interesting if he actually did have one, don't you think?"

"That tonfa bastard will never get one," Hayato muttered as he stood Tsuna upright.

"Why isn't Hibari-san here?" the brunet asked.

"He doesn't like crowding," Asari stated matter-of-factly as he pocketed his ear corks.

"Oh." Somehow it wasn't that surprising. "I'm okay, Giotto-nii," Tsuna insisted as his brother fussed over him.

G snapped his fingers. "Let's go to Takesushi!"

"Our place?" Asari and Yamamoto said at the same time.

"Yeah, since we got Italian last time."

"Alright, who wants to ride with me?" Giotto asked cheerfully.

It was deathly quiet. No one raised their hand to accept the blond's offer.

Suddenly, Giotto smiled sunnily at the unsuspecting blue-haired male. "You'll ride with me, right, Mukuro-kun?"

Mukuro recovered quickly. "I'd love to but—"

"Really? Let's go, then!" Giotto dragged Mukuro after him with an amazing show of strength.

"Do you think we should plan for his funeral yet?" G said with a serious face.

"After we eat," Hayato grumbled. Tsuna sweatdropped when G nodded.

"I can only fit 4 people in my car," Tsuna said as he gestured for Enma to join him.

"Basil, Alaude, and Asari will ride in your car then," G decided. "Me and Yamamoto will ride in Hayato's." The silveret scowled as he spun his keys around on his index finger. "Any objections?" G asked for Hayato's benefit.

"Yes, to your girly pink hair," the silveret muttered.

G pinched the bridge of his nose. "Okay, none. Let's go."

* * *

><p>Much to Hayato's and Giotto's utter disappointment, Mukuro survived.<p>

"He's harder to kill than a cockroach," Giotto muttered, his lips hardened in a thin line. "All those stunts for nothing."

"One day we're going to get him," Hayato scowled. "His brother too."

"When that day comes, weapons are on me," G said graciously.

"I don't need you insects. I'll kill them myself," Alaude said his quiet voice thick with malicious undertones.

Tsuna gulped at the almost tangible murderous aura.

"It's considerate of you four to discuss my death ahead of time, but I prefer not to lose my appetite when our food's about to arrive," Mukuro said, his face still a shade paler than it usually was due to Giotto's driving. Tsuna was slightly surprised to learn that Mukuro _still _had an appetite considering what he had gone through.

Enma and Basil were discussing kitchen techniques when Tsuna suddenly leaned jerked against Enma, who easily tilted towards Basil, who crashed into Hayato. The domino effect continued until it stopped at Alaude, who sat next to Tsuna.

"Hie! I'm so sorry!" Tsuna apologized profusely.

"What happened, Tsuna-kun?" Enma asked softly when they finally righted themselves.

"Nothing. I thought I saw Hibari-san, but that's impossible," Tsuna said as he rubbed his eyes.

"You mean the young fellow sitting over there?" Tsuyoshi, Asari's and Yamamoto's father asked as he set down their orders in their respective plates.

Tsuna whipped his head towards the direction Tsuyoshi was pointing towards.

"Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you guys Hibari was here," Yamamoto said nonchalantly as he untied his apron and handed it to Asari.

For some unknown reason, Tsuna blushed and laid his head down.

"He bought Hibird and Roll along too," Asari added as he passed the aprons to his father.

Tsuna propped his head up between his hands. "Who's Roll?"

"His hedgehog," Hayato replied flatly. "I don't see why he doesn't get a normal pet."

_Hedgehog? I didn't see it back in the dorm. Ah, maybe it's like Hibird and comes and goes when it wishes_, Tsuna thought. He scrunched his brows together as he chewed on a piece of tuna roll. It felt like someone was watching him.

"I haven't seen this one before," Tsuyoshi commented, his eyes trained on Tsuna. "Is he new?"

"His name is Tsunayoshi, but just call him Tsuna. He's my adorable little brother," Giotto said as he hugged Tsuna affectionately. "Isn't his name a lot like yours?"

The sushi master smiled. "It is. I'm Yamamoto Tsuyoshi, it's a pleasure to meet you."

Tsuna managed to offer a shy smile. "Nice to meet you, Yamamoto-san." He felt slightly weird adding on the honorific.

Tsuyoshi nodded and proceeded to grin widely as he turned to Hayato and clapped him on the back. "Still treating Takeshi well?"

The silveret hastily swallowed his food before he choked on his food and muttered something like "Yeah, but that baseball idiot is so hard to take care of."

Tsuyoshi chuckled and shared a knowing look with Asari before leaving them to eat in peace.

* * *

><p>Giotto was the first to start something. When G was chewing—therefore vulnerable—the blond seized the change to steal a piece of sushi from the redhead's plate and stuffed it in his cheeks.<p>

"Victory!" the blond crowed in between mouthfuls of sushi.

Everyone went on the defensive and guarded their precious food except for Tsuna and Enma.

G, the unlucky victim, glared at Giotto just for the sake of glaring.

"Giotto-nii, you can just trade, you know?" Tsuna said wisely.

"He stole my meatballs the last time we went out to eat," Giotto said in his defense.

Tsuna sighed. "Just take some off my plate, since I'm not paying for it anyway. And…" The brunet ducked his head shyly. "Thanks for treating me, G."

Enma followed suit. "I thank you too…G-G-nii." The miniature redhead blushed.

Several jaws dropped. G quickly recovered. "No problem," he returned easily. "And mini-Cozart—I mean Enma—did your brother put you up to that?"

"Um…Cozart-nii said it would make you happy," Enma murmured.

Giotto hooted. "G and Cozart, sitting in a tree, F-U—"

G clapped a hand over his best friend's mouth. "Shut up, Giotto."

"You're blushing," Giotto teased. "If you get any redder, it'll clash with your hair—what are you doing, Tsuna?"

The brunet picked up another piece of sushi with his chopsticks and stuffed it in his mouth. Yamamoto and Hayato followed suit. "Chubby Bunny."

"Oh, I want to join!" Giotto said enthusiastically.

"Not 'nuff sushwi. And yours ish spwicy, so nawt a gwood idea," Tsuna said, his words mumbled due to the food in his mouth."

"Crap." The blond sighed, then his eyes lit up. "Hey G—"

"No."

Giotto sunk down in defeat and prodded his remaining food around on his plate. "You're so mean." G rolled his eyes for the tenth time that evening.

"Tsunayoshi! Tsunayoshi!"

* * *

><p><strong>Hibari POV<strong>

I was slightly irritated that the table near me was filled up with the café herbivores not two minutes after I sat down to enjoy some peace and quiet, but I reasoned that I would be fine as long as they stayed away from me and kept their noise level down to a minimum. Probably.

"Piii," Roll mewled softly as he nosed the food plate. I fed a roll to him.

Hibird was bolder. He would fly from his place on my shoulder and peck my fingers until I gave him something, like he was doing right now. I gave him a piece of sashimi to sate him for the time being.

I was surprised that Hibird flew away right after he devoured the raw fish. I turned my head around to see where he was flying—he was restaurant trained, so there shouldn't be a reason for him to—

"Tsunayoshi! Tsunayoshi!"

My eyes twitched by their own accord. I pocketed Roll, throwing another fish roll in with him for good measure as I stood up and headed towards the herbivores' tables to retrieve Hibird.

He was never that troublesome before he met Tsunayoshi.

The thought made me recall this morning's event—and my lips curved in an almost unnoticeable smirk.

"Owh! Hibird—hur!"

Even without looking, I knew that Hibird hard pecked the herbivore's fingers for food. But why…? Did his voice…

This must have been the first day since I was a child that I was rendered unable to control my facial expressions, because my lips formed a crooked smile before I quickly hardened it back into a scowl. Thankfully, no one seemed to notice.

The only reason why I had such a deformed expression on my face was because the herbivore had actually looked like an herbivore this time, I convinced myself.

Herbivores were weak and defenseless creatures that formed groups and crowded to protect themselves. It was a perfect term to apply to people.

"H-Hibrari-sahn?" I wondered how the herbivore had managed to stutter with that much food stored in his puffed up cheeks.

He was the perfect human embodiment of a rabbit.

I offered only a scowl as I beckoned for Hibird to join me. I glared at the yellow ball of fluff as he contemplated if giving up a bowl of roe was worth it.

After what seemed like an age of deciding, he flew back to me.

"Hibari! Hibari!"

I sighed inwardly and turned around to head back to my table.

"Yo Hibari, why don't you come and eat with us?"

"Let the bastard leave, dammit."

"Kufufu, I loathe to agree with you puppy, but I fear that I must."

"Maa, maa, Hayato, Mukuro, he's not that bad!"

"Not that bad my ass," Hayato muttered.

My irritation upped tenfold.

"No," I rejected tersely.

When I felt the tug on my jacket sleeve, I snapped and drew out my tonfas from its hidden compartments.

"I'll bite you to death." I lunged forward, only for my arm to snap back when I saw a cuff encircling my wrist. "Alaude," I hissed.

My damn brother only smirked in response.

"We prefer not to have weapons in here," the flute herbivore said calmly, shooting a look to Alaude as well.

"I'm sure my brother would love to join us. Right, Kyouya?"

I stiffened at the use of my first name. _No, I would never join your pack of herbivores._ But I was cornered. Alaude's tone meant business. I had no idea what he could gain from this apart from my discomfort, and the enjoyment from harassing me.

When his cuff retreated, I put up my tonfas and sent Alaude a glare with the most concentrated amount of hate and loathe I could summon.

"Don't seat me anywhere near the pineapple herbivore unless you want to see his blood," I growled.

"The farthest place away from Mukuro would be in between me and Tsuna," the blond omnivore said (anyone that could make my brother show anything but indifference was automatically classed as an omnivore. The pineapples don't count).

He missed the way his herbivore brother was shaking his head frantically.

I smirked when he caught me looking at him. The herbivore blushed madly.

I noted to myself that I shouldn't do this too often. I didn't need my ego to get too inflated.

The herbivore put as much distance as he could between him and me when I sat down. He was literally glued to the red-headed herbivore that sat next to him.

I scowled as I remembered where I was. Squeezed in between an herbivore and an omnivore at a table full of herbivores. It was no wonder I lost my appetite.

"Tsunayoshi! Tsunayoshi!" Hibird left my shoulder in favor for Tsunayoshi's head. I was doing to have to reprimand him for recognizing an herbivore later.

"Oya oya. Looks like the bird's torn between his master and Tsunayoshi-kun," Mukuro teased.

I threw a plate at him. It didn't shatter against his face like I hoped it would.

"Kufufu, go easy on me today. I just recovered from a life threatening experience," he said as he set down the plate. The pineapple herbivore always overdramatized things, but even I could tell he was a shade paler than usual.

Hibird was back to perching on the bowl of roe.

Everything suddenly felt too loud. I shoved my noise-cancelling earbuds in and closed my eyes.

Might as well take a nap.

* * *

><p>I cracked an eye open when I felt something nudge into my side. I was only half-asleep, after all. I couldn't let down my guard in front of people, no matter how weak they seemed to be—and these herbivores weren't particularly all too weak either. The blond omnivore made a gesture of apology. I closed my eye to douse his suspicions. I had saw him signal behind his back at Alaude.<p>

This should be interesting.

After 5 minutes passed, I opened my eyes to table that was missing two people. I stood up, not minding that Hibird wasn't following me. He'd most likely give me away anyways.

The first place to check was the men's bathroom. When that search came up fruitless—in some sense I was glad that they didn't decide to meet up in the bathroom of all places—I quietly picked the lock of the _employers only _door. It opened without a sound. I left the door slightly ajar so that I could make a swift, silent escape if necessary.

The room was darkly lit. Boxes of sushi vinegar and nori were stacked into orderly columns. I carefully sidestepped anything that would alert someone of my presence.

I was glad that I stuck to the shadows, because nothing in the world could've prepared my eyes to see what they saw. My face scrunched up in disgust. My _brother _had the blond omnivore pinned against the wall with his body and they were currently…what did herbivores call it? Sucking face? Making out? Alaude's hands cupped the omnivore's—Giotto's—face—I've never seen him be that tender.

I felt bile rising up at the back of my throat as I thumbed around my pocket for my phone. I guessed that I probably had 30 seconds to a minute left before I threw up from looking at them for too long.

When my phone was finally ready in my hands, I was glad that Alaude that insisted on buying high-tech devices. This needed to be quality blackmail material. I made sure that the flash was off—there was enough light for the phone's camera lenses to detect the two—and that all sound effects were disabled.

I steadied my focus, and then pressed down on the capture button.

The product was perfect for getting back at Alaude.

I shoved my phone back in my pocket and made my getaway. In my haste, my foot scuffed the edge of a box—a sound that Alaude would normally pick up on if not for the fact that Giotto had moaned his name at the same time.

My mind was set on a single track—get the hell out of there before my nausea got worse and before Alaude discovered me.

The rational part of my mind was thankfully still working when I reached the door. I silently closed it behind me.

"Hibari-san?"

* * *

><p>Sorry, I have a habit of ending on cliffhangers xD And that part when Basil was teaching Enma how to bat? Yeah, I was like..."this sounds like the hokey pokey." -facepalm- Please take some time to review! I'd love to hear your feedback :)<p> 


	7. Alouettes and Pocky

**Kichou, InK4bLoOd, animegirl457, ben4kevin, Wowserz in muh pantz, EK12, AbandonWolf3, SilverMajix, kay-kw33n, NecromancyAngel, Fenrir16, Once-upon-a-saturday, Lilgreyblob, HibarixZhen, & dustbunniehailey **for the kind reviews! **March Rosenqueen **Ah...that's true ^^; There seems to be a large lapse between most of my updates now, how to close TT^TT...and no, he most certainly does not know. Yet. c: You're welcome! **YuujouKami **& he's going to get into a lot more of awkward situations, because I dictate what he does. Being the author feels amazing ;3 **TotalAmuto **I have to say that I haven't really thought about HDWM Tsuna. I want to find a way to include it though! **NateMarshallLee** Your review made my day. I was in my Computer Graphics class when I read yours, and I couldn't stop grinning. About the angst - whew. I hope not, I don't have gusto to write that. Thank you for your support! ^^ **SelfcreatedCharacter **That game with cards - Foltern - actually hurts like a bitch in real life. I've played it several times when I was bored in the summer with my neighbors, and holy jkfhdskf. They don't go easy on me ; ; And yes. Blackmail certainly does fit Hibari ;D **soulXmaka4evalove **Thank you :) I'm thinking on what to do with his eyes. I kind of want some HDWM Tsuna too, but I'm not too sure on how to incorporate it yet.

Wheeee. An update ;D Happy Valentine's Day (or forever alone day, whichever one you pick) to everyone! I was initially going to make this a Valentine's Day-themed chapter, but it doesn't fit in correctly with the timeline ; ; ... and the omake I was going to make was skewed in the time-sense as well. So...just a regular update...just on 2/14.

Don't hesitate to ask any questions! Most of them, if not all, help me notice what I've missed. Sometimes they're minor things like typos or grammar errors, sometimes bigger - plot holes, etc.

Well, enjoy!

* * *

><p><strong>Glossary<strong>

_senpai_ - elder, senior, upperclassman, superior, etc. [Japanese]  
><em>alouette - <em>skylark [French]  
><em>Europaeus Pestifera <em>- made up name, roughly equalling "Poisonous Hedgehog" - which I can assure you, there are none. [Latin]

* * *

><p>"…And that's what happened," Tsuna finished in a hushed whisper. Enma's eyes could've doubled as bowling balls.<p>

"W-Wow. You seem to have gotten on his bad side," Enma mumbled, toying with a wrapped band-aid.

"Well, at least he's not that mad anymore. I mean, if he sits next to me…that has to mean something, right?" Tsuna asked, his brow furrowing slightly as he stood up and pushed back his chair. "I'm going to wash up, I'll be right back." The redhead nodded and turned to Basil, the two engaging in a chat immediately.

"Tsunayoshi! Tsunayoshi!" Hibird chirped from atop the brunet's hair. Tsuna reached up a tentative hand to pet the songbird, stroking it when there was no resistance. In fact, the bird seemed to nuzzle into his hand affectionately instead of shying away. Tsuna smiled softly, the small gesture warming his heart.

"Hibird, you need to tell me the secrets of your master," he murmured. Hibird cocked his head to the side, as if trying to understand what he said.

He was about to push open the door to the washroom when he spied something out of the corner of his eye. The employees-only room opened, and Hibari stepped out, closing the door behind him with utmost care. The brunet walked over curiously. Hibari wasn't an employee here…right?

"Hibari-san?"

* * *

><p><strong>Hibird POV<strong>

_Master! _"Hi—"

* * *

><p>Hibari's eyes widened fractionally as he snapped out a code consisting of subtle taps and clicks to Hibird with his fingers. The yellow fluff ball automatically shut up as his master clapped a hand against Tsuna's mouth and hauled him into the men's washroom. Fortunately, it was empty. Tsuna gasped for air as soon as Hibari released his hand. The skylark snorted at the reaction. How pathetically weak.<p>

"Why did you—" Hibari's hand covered his mouth again as he stood stock still.

_"Are you sure nobody saw us?" _

Tsuna instantly recognized his brother's voice, wondering who he was talking to. He had excused himself to the washroom a while ago

_"I would've heard it." _

Tsuna tried to remember who the second voice belonged to—he was sure he heard it somewhere before...

His thoughts were suddenly thrown out the window as Hibari grasped him around the waist and hauled him to a stall. His position was reversed as he sat on Hibari's lap, hastily propping up his legs against the door as the skylark prodded them with a tonfa. The door opened a split second later. Tsuna strained to see from his vantage point—there seemed to be two pairs of feet, both clad in similar Italian calf shoes, but one had a silver clasp. To his knowledge, Giotto owned no shoes with clasps, so it was easy to figure out which one he was. But his companion was another matter; it wasn't like Tsuna paid any attention to the shoes people were wearing (unless they were customers), so he had no clue to who it was.

"_Alouette_," Giotto's voice said, the word clearly laced with affection. "I'll go back first." There was a pause where there was the unmistakable sound of a kiss (Hibari almost gagged at how uncharacteristic his brother was whilst Tsuna remained oblivious) before the door opened and someone walked out (presumably Giotto).

Tsuna was deep in thought. His brother was involved with someone with the code name of _alouette_. The word sounded eerily familiar. So preoccupied was he that he almost squeaked in surprise when Hibari moved and shoved him away, almost making him do a face plant against the stall door.

"You could've warned me before you did that Hibari-san," Tsuna mumbled as he stomped his feet a couple of times to shake away the unpleasant tingles. Hibird flew from his head to his master's, sitting upright and as stoic as a sentry. Tsuna realized that the fluff ball hadn't even made a single tweet since Hibari seemingly snapped his fingers in some complicated pattern to quiet him, which led back to...

"Why were you standing over at the—" Hibari glared sharply at him, effectively cutting him of in the middle of his sentence.

"Don't pry into my business, herbivore." The skylark undid the lock and left the stall, leaving Tsuna sputtering as he rushed out after him.

"Wait, Hibari-san!"

Said man turned around, eying the hand tugging on his sleeve pointedly. Tsuna flushed slightly and immediately let go.

"A-Are you still mad at me?" the brunet stuttered nervously as he tugged on his bangs, a habit that he had picked up from a customer back in Namimori.

Hibari snorted. "Why should I be?" Tsuna stood there awkwardly, wondering if he should bring up the afternoon's events or not. The skylark rolled his eyes and left without waiting for his answer. Tsuna blinked as Hibird seemed to lift a wing to wave at him. _Ah—well, Hibari-san doesn't seem to be mad anymore, I shouldn't push it…_the brunet left the washroom with the word "alouette" on the tip of his tongue.

* * *

><p>Tsuna sighed as he hung up. His father's enthusiasm always wore him out. He glanced sideways at Hibari, whose eyes were skirting the pages of what seemed to be a crime novel. Tsuna didn't even realize he was staring until Hibari was staring back, the barest hint of mirth visible in his relaxed expression. The brunet let out a short (ahem, masculine) squeak of surprise before retreating to the bathroom to take a shower. Hibari blinked slowly with amusement before returning to his novel with Hibird comfortably nestled in his hair.<p>

* * *

><p>Tsuna yelped as the shampoo got in his eye, fumbling around until the water rinsed the irritating substance out of his eye. As the warm steam collected around him, Tsuna thought back to Giotto. He had sent a status update (safe, not in a wreck on the side of the road) to each of his older brothers (they had both insisted on it, even Dino, was currently the CEO and owner of the Chiavarone Company and therefore rarely had any spare time. Giotto was a bit ridiculous; they lived in the same dorm. There was no need for him to fret).<p>

_Alouette…_ The brunet's brow was furrowed deeply, indicating the mess his thoughts were in. He had been thinking about Giotto's rendezvous with "X" ever since his encounter with Hibari. From the deepest recesses of his brain located in the "childhood songs" category, came the barest snippets of a tune. It was a broken tune, one that he couldn't quite piece together yet, but he would figure it out in time, maybe a couple of days depending on the circumstances.

So deep in thought was Tsuna that the sharp prick of pain subjected to his forefinger wasn't noticed until a thin trail of red streamed amongst the tiles of the shower floor. Agony bloomed in his finger as his eyes searched for the perpetrator.

"Hieeee!"

* * *

><p><em>"Hieeee!"<em>

Hibari paused from turning the page. His outwardly calm composure was not affected by the sheer surprise he felt inwardly at the disturbance. There were rarely any disruptions in the quiet peace that he could only find solely in his room.

"H-Hibari-s-san!"

The raven-haired male's eyes flicked towards the traumatized brunet, whose finger was bleeding profusely.

"B-By any c-chance, is t-that your hedgehog in there?" Tsuna stuttered out as his body started to quiver slightly. He clenched the towel tighter around his waist as Hibari blinked at him and connected the dots.

"Did he pierce you?" Hibari asked, slowly setting down his book as he stood up. Tsuna nodded. The elder started to walk towards the brunet, gesturing for him to return to the bathroom as he followed suit behind him. Tsuna's confusion showed in his questioning steps as Hibari nudged him to the sink. He unhinged the lock on the side of the mirror to reveal a cupboard behind it, taking out a first-aid kit as Tsuna looked on apprehensively.

"A band-aid would do, Hibari-san." Tsuna's confusion upped tenfold when he was more or less ignored. The elder doused an antiseptic pad with lukewarm water and squeezed a small drop of soap on it before grasping Tsuna's finger. The brunet tried to refrain from wincing but failed as Hibari washed the cut. Unbeknownst to him, the small tremors that shook his body periodically were growing more frequent. A not-so-visible change was the small drop in Tsuna's body temperature—all of which Hibari noted as he inspected his handiwork before—

"H-H-Hibari-san! W-What are y-y-you d-doing?" Tsuna stammered as he blushed about eighteen shades of red.

—closing his mouth around Tsuna's forefinger whilst stooping down a little to keep his hand below his heart. Tsuna's thoughts swirled as they tried to assemble themselves into a presentable order when Hibari began to apply suction. At the same moment, Tsuna's vision blurred a little before returning back to normal. The two continued their ritual for a few more turns, with Hibari spitting out the blood every ten seconds. Tsuna struggled to ask questions that demanded answers, but his thoughts were incoherent as black spots danced in front of him, slowly swallowing up his vision.

Hibari caught the falling brunet before he acquainted himself with the floor. He spit out last drops of blood, the familiar coppery tang taking over his memories for a split moment before he forced them back. He set the unconscious Tsuna down gently, his eyes searching the shower for a sign of Roll as he did so.

He found his pet curled up in a ball in the soap bar container.

"P-Pii!" Roll responded as he was picked up.

"You've caused trouble, herbivore," Hibari rebuked, albeit in a soft manner. Roll seemed to express chagrin as it stood up on its master's hand to peer at Tsuna.

"Piiii…"

* * *

><p>Tsuna blinked as his eyes slowly refocused. He found himself to be slipping in and out of consciousness as his need for warmth grew greater with each lapse. There was one, unclear memory of Hibari rinsing his mouth with mouthwash—but the action was so down-to-earth that he dismissed it. He couldn't imagine someone like Hibari doing normal things, although he reasoned that he'd have the chance to witness pretty much most of Hibari's schedule now that they were roommates.<p>

* * *

><p>His teeth began to chatter as he came into consciousness again—what was that purple thing that was on Hibari's shoulder? His eyes couldn't quite make out what the blob was. It wasn't long before his eyelids drooped again.<p>

* * *

><p>The next time he regained most of his senses was a pure heavenly experience. It felt like he was next to a radiator during the coldest of winter days. The heat tightly cocooned him, providing a shield between him and everything else. Something was wrapped around his waist, but the alarming thoughts eluded him as he nuzzled closer to whatever was next to him. Breathing in the comforting scent of lavender and green tea, he fell in a deep sleep.<p>

* * *

><p>Hibari shifted irritatedly. Every time he managed to get an hour of sleep, the herbivore's breathing woke him up again. He had moved to get his earphones, but the herbivore just. wouldn't. let. <em>go<em>. He had given up on disentangling himself ages ago, and had resigned himself to only three hours of sleep. He had watched the sun rise, watched Hibird go out for his daily flight, and he was now currently watching the clock to turn eight.

Hibari grimaced in annoyance as Tsuna snuggled closer again. He was definitely not above using violence to wake the sleeping herbivore up (even if his condition was partially his fault) but it hadn't worked. The boy slept like a log.

Hibari gently pushed Tsuna's head away from his chest, feeling his forehead at the same time. Good, his temperature had risen back to normal. His eyes narrowed as he studiously studied the boy's features. Tsuna's eyelashes were so long that they cast shadows on his cheeks. Unconsciously, his hand cupped Tsuna's cheek. Hibari marveled at how soft the skin was, how smooth, how untainted. His lips curved in the barest semblance of a smile as his fingers twisted in Tsuna's hair. So he really did wake up like this. He let the silken strands sift through his fingers before retracting his hand. He was not one to let himself be in denial for too long. His interest in Tsuna was admittingly…high. The only logical reason was because that Tsuna was the complete epitome of an herbivore, a small animal…and he possessed a soft spot for small animals.

_Beep beep. Beep beep. _

_Finally._ Hibari expected the herbivore to rouse himself, but instead, he mumbled "Mmn…five more minutes…"

This herbivore…irked the hell out of him. Hibari pulled the blankets off of them in a swift move, eyes widening in surprise when Tsuna suddenly attached himself to him like a leech.

"Herbivore…Tsunayoshi!" Hibari said as he grasped Tsuna by the shoulders and shook him, raising his voice a notch higher for the first time in several years.

"Mmwhhuh?" Tsuna's eyes fluttered open, bleary as they stared at Hibari. The skylark could almost see the gears turning in Tsuna's head as he continued starting at him.

"Hieee!" _Connection made_. The next few moments were chock-full of skin-to-skin contact as Tsuna hurriedly attempted to disentangle himself from Hibari (which had led to more tangling before they finally freed themselves).

"W-What happened last night?" Tsuna said, his eyes huge as he realized he was on Hibari's bed.

"Nothing. You were just poisoned by touching Roll," Hibari stated apathetically. "The symptoms include lowered body temperature and shivering. You should be immune to it by now, so it doesn't matter if he pierces you again."

"Hedgehogs are poisonous?" Tsuna asked incredulously. _That explains a lot…b-but you could've shown more concern! _

"_Europaeus Pestifera_. It's the only species of hedgehog that is poisonous."

As if cued, Roll…well, rolled across the bed to him. The hedgehog looked rather harmless with its spikes retracted.

"Piii," the purple hedgehog mewled, nuzzling into the side of his hand in a gesture of apology.

Hibari didn't bat an eyelash. Herbivores flocked to herbivores. It all made sense.

With characteristic tenderness, Tsuna tentatively stroked Roll, a smile lighting up his face as he did so.

"He's so little."

Beneath his callous exterior, Hibari felt the slightest shift in emotion as he watched Tsuna coddle his hedgehog. The foreign feeling was alarming. Hibari immediately reacted defensively, distancing himself from the herbivore who caused the strange flutter.

"Hibari-san, how may I thank you?" Tsuna called out as Hibari grabbed a towel.

"You don't need to," Hibari growled. The brunet's eyes widened at the sudden change in attitude.

"H-Hibari-san?"

The skylark closed the door behind him, the click reverberating throughout the room. Tsuna sat, stupefied. _I-It was partially his fault anyway! _I _should be the one that's angry!_

He tried to convince himself that Hibari's mood wasn't his fault as he slipped out of Hibari's bed—

Wait.

Hibari's bed…

Slow as he was, there were really no alternate explanations to explain why he was in Hibari's bed and not his own. He was so...insensitive. He had inconvenienced the skylark, again. He had a feeling that he was going to pay for it…

* * *

><p>He was right, dammit. His feelings were always right.<p>

"Oya, oya, looks like Kyouya-chan is a little sleepy today, kufufu."

Hibari smirked instead of looking irritated. "That's because Tsunayoshi kept me up all night."

Tsuna's jaw slacked. So did Mukuro's. _H-How could he!_

"My darling brother! Y-You were t-tainted by t-that beast? Get the fuck over here Hibari Kyouya, I'll make sure that you'll see all _six _realms of hell!" Giotto snarled.

"Finally, someone got their hells right," Mukuro muttered.

Tsuna spent a good part of his morning explaining what had happened. After this certain experience, he was more wary around his senpai, and usually went out of his way to avoid any further trouble.

* * *

><p><em>Three days later<em>

Tsuna tilted his head in confusion. "Pocky?" Lambo handed him one of the strawberry flavored biscuit sticks.

"Table 4 requested that from me…with Hibari-san," Tsuna said as he wondered silently if he would have time to pick up a few during his break. _Why would they want only one pocky stick?_

"Have you ever heard of the pocky game?" Lambo queried.

"Yeah, me and Giotto-niii used to—" Tsuna's eyes widened as realization dawned on him. _With Hibari? _It was true that the older male had been less apathetic and more teasing towards him, but he wasn't quite sure whether he liked the change or not.

"Hibari is already informed. He's waiting for you by your table." Lambo wished him luck before joining Yamamoto in a cosplay request, leaving the brunet behind with a gaping jaw and a sudden urge to jump off a cliff.

* * *

><p>Tsuna's knees felt like buckling. "U-Um…Hibari-san?" The older male turned around, his eyes containing a hint of amusement as he noticed the biscuit stick Tsuna was holding between his fingers.<p>

Tsuna timidly placed one end of the pocky in between his lips and stood on his toes to poke Hibari's mouth with the other end. The skylark caught the stick and nipped at it. Tsuna's heels came back down to rest on the floor as Hibari gripped his hips, bringing him closer at the same time. One of the customers whispered a ~Kya! So hot!~ before Tsuna took another small bite. _Oh god why with Hibari-san…_there wasn't enough stick between him and the elder! It would only be a matter of time before their—

_You can cross that bridge when you get there_, his mind told him. He failed to notice how Hibari's eyes were rooted on him as he took a bite. Tsuna really, really liked pocky. He'd be damned if this was going to ruin it for him. He took a bite.

_Crunch. _Hibari's bite.

_Crunch. _His bite.

_Crunch. _Hibari's.

_Crunch. _His.

_Crunch._

_Crunch._

_Crunch._

_Crunch. _

Tsuna gulped at their proximity—Hibari's smell filled his senses, the scent rousing some primal instinct within him instead of comforting him like it usually did (not that he would ever admit that in front of Hibari). There was just enough room for two small bites.

_Crunch. _Their lips were a hair's breath away from each other.

Tsuna prayed that he would live down the humiliation Hibari was sure to give him after this.

_Crunch._

Their lips met softly as Tsuna settled comfortably against Hibari. The brunet had always thought that he was more comfortable performing his customer's requests with Hibari than the other hosts. He reasoned that it had turned out that way because people asked for him and Hibari more than anyone else, so he had eventually grown used to it.

Tsuna's eyes flitted to the clock. Giotto was always better at this part—

His eyes widened as Hibari's tongue made it through his still slightly parted mouth. _T-This wasn't part of the game..._The first one to pull away was the one who lost! But Giotto had never included making out in the rules...

Tsuna placed his hands against Hibari's chest, intending on pushing him away, but instead was drawn closer. Hibari's eyes smirked—since his mouth was occupied—as Tsuna's cheeks started to take on a pink tint not unlike the icing that had covered the pocky sticks. Tsuna fought valiantly to keep Hibari out of his mouth, but lost, seeing that the elder had more experience than him. The brunet stopped squirming in Hibari's grip as their tongues pressed against each other almost violently.

In all honesty, it wasn't like he despised contact with Hibari—quite the opposite, actually. It was just what came after it that kept him running away.

Tsuna tilted his head to get a better angle, resigning himself to fate as Hibari kissed him senseless. He reciprocated as often as he could—but that wasn't enough to win. Long after the sweet taste of pocky stopped lingering, Tsuna was shocked by the hand that suddenly cupped his cheek. Ever since he had started working at the cafe, his personal values had skewed a little—kisses were no longer special and body contact was nothing to worry over. But something simple like the cup of his cheek—it was something that he still considered intimate, and for Hibari to initiate such a move—the surprise was enough for him to break the kiss.

Hibari covered up his own surprise with a smirk as he let his hand fall to his side. His instincts were something he prided himself in—and any decisions he made on impulse were rarely wrong, but he was infinitely sure that he had not thought about touching Tsuna's face before he had done so. This type of unconscious action was something he was wary of.

"I really thought you were going to go farther than that," one of the customers pouted. Tsuna's blush grew more prominent as he struggled to find words. "Seriously, are you two a couple?"

_S-So straightforward. _"N-No..." the brunet stuttered as he blinked his eyes at the blondeness of her hair. She didn't seem foreign with the fluency of her Japanese, yet her looks seemed to be part French.

"And here I was thinking that Hibari-kun finally opened his heart to someone." She sighed dramatically. The two girls who were with her seemed slightly abashed by her bluntness.

"Elena," Hibari said, narrowing his eyes without malice. It was the first time Tsuna saw him speak to someone that didn't work in the cafe without growling. "Please go bother the older pineapple peon instead."

"Oh~ I will," the woman said deviously before turning her attention back to Tsuna. "You're so adorable...let's see..." She picked up the menu again and flipped to the _recent _page. "It says here that you're working temporarily for a week until your position is decided, blah blah blah...hmmm...so your name is Sawada Tsunayoshi." Elena tapped a fingernail against her cheek. "Such a big name for someone so...small."

Tsuna's cheeks colored again. Strangely, it didn't seem like Elena was belittling him. Instead, her eyes were scanning over him rather approvingly.

"May I call you Tsuna-chan instead? Or Tsu-tsu? Or—"

"Tsuna-chan is fine," Tsuna blurted out before she came up with even worse nicknames. Elena giggled and stood up, flouncing over to Tsuna with an elegant lightness in her step. She pressed a light kiss against his cheek before ruffling his hair.

"Well, Tsuna-chan, I'll be seeing more of you!" She waved goodbye as she walked out the door.

"Cavorting omnivore," Hibari muttered under his breath. Tsuna just stood there, unable to form any words as his mouth opened and closed.

* * *

><p>Elena chuckled lightly as the wind fluttered lightly against her hair. <em>Tsuna-chan...you will most definitely fall for Hibari-kun. I'll make sure of it. <em>But first...she had to visit _that _idiot first.

* * *

><p>Yay. Go Elena ;D<br>If you're ever curious on story statuses, they're usually on my profile or on my blog. My blog will usually state which fiction I'm working on, and is updated more frequently. There's also snippets of fictions that I never got to publish/drafts. Come visit me once in a while! ^^ (hopefully I can figure out how to install a chat box soon).

h t t p : / / i m i t a t i o n - a n g e l . b l o g s p o t . c o m

/gives everyone hugs and cupcakes  
>You're never alone on V-Day! D:<p> 


	8. Lunch Break and Fries

**Note: **I'm sorry if this appeared in people's inboxes **thrice **OTL...some people have had a problem with receiving this update (broken link?)

**No, sorry, this isn't another update.**

Some people have requested it to be reuploaded because they couldn't see it (so I'm extremely sorry for clogging up everyone's inboxes. I swear this is the last time TT^TT)...

**ben4kevin, kay-kw33n, AniManGa19930, Pudding Earl, Kichou, HibarixZhen, fujoshikanojo94, The Only Love For Soujiro Seta, qXyrin, & greenwolf19, **thank you for your praise and support /heart. **March Rosenqueen **I imagine so too c: Ohoho ;) I am wondering that too. Awww..itsk, fujoshis unite on 2/14 to be un-forever alone! ;^; Hope this chapter won't disappoint ^^" **xXScarlatto-OokamiXx **His ™? Yes, yes ;) **loveanimes1996 **Aww D: Dw come here, we can spend a belated 2/14 together n_n I know, but I always imagine Alaude as you know...a parallel to Hibari. And Giotto, to Tsuna - only in HDWM a lot more often. Ahaha, "making sandwiches with my brother!" I bursted out laughing in my Spanish class... `-` Now my classmates think I'm weird. Oh well :'D **hiuh**Thanks! And hehe. I love Elena :) **ezcap1st **I know, right? :'D **Ellen **Thanks, love! And yes, they will be c: **nanami92 **I believe so C: Come by and drop me a line every now and then, I love talking xD &thank you! ;w; **Jasmin Liertha **I know. Sometimes I squeal myself when I'm writing. sofluffy. There probably is...in Japan. :(! 8D! I agree. Elena shipping 1827 is quite a hilarious spectacle. **berrysplashQT **Yes! xD &thanks ;D Hope this update won't disappoint ^^ **Katsuchara **That heart c: ... I wish I could do that without fanfiction censoring it out ;( Wait let me try it out. [ ] - That's where it was supposed to be. It didn't work ;(! &thank you! ;D **Elis1412**So accurate! xDDD **Stalker of Reactions **I've wondered about playing it too, seeing that Pocky is obtainable where I live. But...who to play it with o/o looking for a love interest other than 1827 :(...

I wanted to update/write a fic for April's Fool day...,_, Like. Have an a/n that stated "I'm sorry, I'm discontinuing this fic etc etc" D: ... and then retract it. B-But I forgot...;w;

This chapter is a little shorter than usual (around 3k) but I hope you enjoy it anyways! ^^  
>The last part where there are multiple line breaks is due to the slight changes in POVs (if that helps, Jasmin ;D)<p>

* * *

><p><strong>Glossary:<strong>

_Je reviens__ tout de suite_ - I'll be back right away [French]  
><em>Cela fait un bail que nous ne nous sommes pas vus<em> - Colloquial way to say "It's been a while (that we haven't seen each other)" [French]  
><em>Bonjour <em>- Hello [French] (lolduhc:)  
><em>Onii-tan<em> - Similar to onii-chan but a cuter form. Mostly used by toddlers seeing that they can't pronounce "chan" as well [Japanese]  
><em>Bvlgari <em>- Expensive watch brand (Accentuated by Italians)

* * *

><p><em>"Je <em>_reviens__ tout de suite,_" Daemon said to the French couple. Giotto, who was several tables away, stuck his tongue out at him. Daemon could almost imagine what the blonde wanted to say. _"Stupid showoff. I can beat your pants off in Italian." _Well, it wasn't like he could help growing up in France. And for the record, he was not one of those "snobby, rich, _old_ aristocrats."

He was just about to visit another table when a familiar 5'7 tall stature stepped in front of him.

_"Bonjour_._ Cela fait un bail que nous ne nous sommes pas vus."_

His lips curved into a smile, a genuine one that didn't contain a single hint of smirk in it. _"Bonjour, Elena."_

* * *

><p>Tsuna covered his work clothes with a jacket before he exited the café with Hibari following after him. He had originally planned to go alone, but for some reason, Hibari had decided go with him. He could not entirely say that the skylark seemed willing though. He had tagged along with Giotto on all of his breaks up until now; when he told his brother that he would rather go somewhere else on his own; there was a brief look that passed his older brother's face that he couldn't quite decipher. It looked like a cross between relieved and wistful.<p>

It was a short walk, a 5 minute one at the most. It was shadowed with silence, with Tsuna feeling too awkward to start up a conversation and Hibari not caring enough to. Peals of laughter reached his ears before he could see the children who had released them.

He waited until the pedestrian signal switch to safe before crossing the street and heading towards the daycare with Hibari in tow. Several of the toddlers stared up in awe at him and Hibari. A little girl soon ran over and tugged on his pants leg.

"Who are you, onii-tan?" Huge, trusting eyes stared at Tsuna. The brunet stooped down to the girl's height, noticing that a small crowd had gathered around them already.

"Weren't you taught not to trust strangers?" he asked with a smile. The girl's eyes grew wider as she nodded.

"Be careful next time. You can trust me though. My name is Tsuna—there, I'm not a stranger anymore." The girl smiled as she patted his cheek affectionately.

"I'm Akiyama Minako!" she chirped.

"Sawada-san?" someone called. Tsuna stood up to face a very, very, _very _pretty lady. Even though he wasn't interested, his cheeks tinged a light pink.

"That's me—just call me Tsuna, though. And you are—?"

"Oh, how rude of me. I'm Sasagawa Kyoko. Giotto-kun told me you might be coming." That brought a smile to Tsuna's face. Of course his brother would know and send notice ahead of time. But…_Sasagawa?_ The name sounded awfully familiar.

"Sasagawa-san," he said politely, dipping his head. His eyebrows were slightly scrunched in concentration as he tried to recall the name.

"Ryohei is my nii-chan," Kyoko offered helpfully. Tsuna's eyes widened almost comically. They were nothing alike! Kyoko giggled at the reaction. "And call me Kyoko-chan please, I don't mind. To be honest, Sasagawa-san makes me feel sort of old." She turned to face Hibari. "Good afternoon, Kyouya-kun." Tsuna was shocked again. They knew each other? Well of course, he should expect Hibari to know a lot of pretty girls… For some reason, the thought fostered a strange feeling that he couldn't quite put a finger on yet.

"Kyoko," Hibari replied tersely. Tsuna almost fell over himself in surprise. They were on first name terms as well—and he was with Hibari long enough to know that he was on first name terms with just a select few people, and not all by choice—just who was this woman?

"Tsu-tan, let's play!" Minako chirped as she tugged on Tsuna's pants leg again. Tsuna smiled warmly.

"Of course—"

At that moment, all of the children started introducing themselves to Tsuna, some tripping as they struggled to reach him. The brunet just laughed through the mess. It took nearly 10 minutes for the introductions to finish. Tsuna just prayed that he would at least remember some of the names. Hibari retreated underneath the shade of a tree to observe from an omniscient vantage point as he put his earphones in.

The children, in short, were a flurry of activity. Only 20 minutes had passed and they had played a combination of games—hide and seek and tag being two of them. The children were particularly fond of the game "House," so they appointed Kyoko as the mother and Tsuna as the father. Tsuna alternated turns with Kyoko when it came to tea parties—the female children positively squealed when Tsuna served them. The children seemed to be made up of energy, entirely dragging Tsuna along with their pace as they filled the area with their bubbly laughter.

There was a short story-telling time too. The children scrabbled over Tsuna as they fought to see who would sit in "Tsu-tan's" or "Koko-chan's" lap. Minako eventually came out as winner for Tsuna and another girl for Kyoko—Ayumi, if his memory served correct. Kyoko told of a giant bunny that was in search for a friend, while Tsuna told of a brave young boy that conquered dragons and creatures of the like to save his town. He was dubbed the "monster tamer." The children took quite a liking to his story. When they asked what the boy's name was, he replied with a pained smile: "Fuuta."

* * *

><p>"Koko-chan! Koko-chan! Haruharu is stuck in a tree!"<p>

Tsuna turned his head to where the child was pointing—it was a sakura tree not far from where Hibari was resting. A brunette girl swayed on a branch near the top.

"Kyoko-chan, please help me down!"

The sakura tree was soon surrounded by every child that was on the daycare grounds. Hibari had stood up, having been irritated when children started stepping on him.

"Ah…Haru-san?" Tsuna shielded his eyes against the sun as he looked up. "You can climb down using the branches. They will support your weight."

"H-Hahi! I can't see where to put my feet!"

Tsuna gulped as he glanced to Hibari for help. The elder stared back with a grimace on his face (courtesy to the female toddlers pulling at his pant legs), but made no move.

It wasn't like Tsuna was a gentleman; but if his father found out that he had neglected his preaching, then he would surely reprimand him severely. Therefore asking Kyoko to climb the tree and attempt a rescue was out of the question. He wanted to help Haru down from the tree, but he wasn't particularly excellent at climbing trees himself either. The ideal help in this situation was Hibari…who was currently glaring daggers due to the crowding.

Without another word, Tsuna grasped a tree limb, gulping again when it swayed a little. Kyoko started to clap her hands.

"Yay, Tsuna-kun is going to rescue the princess!"

Tsuna sweatdropped as the children began to cheer. They shouldn't take this situation lightly, because he could very well fall down himself before even reaching Haru. He steeled his mind before finding a firm foothold.

"Tsu-tan! Tsu-tan! Tsu-tan!" Minako started to chant. Other children began to join her.

"TSU-TAN! TSU-TAN! TSU-TAN!"

Tsuna managed a shaky smile before starting to make his way up the tree. His mind was very much like a blank slate, his limbs seeming to be set on automatic as he advanced through the leaves. When he appeared directly under Haru a few minutes later, he looked up, only to almost lose his grip at what he saw. His cheeks flushed a deep shade of red.

"H-Haru-san, how did you get up here?" he asked as he started to ascend again, willing himself to forget the sight of pink striped panties.

"Oh, I was retrieving a ball for To-kun—hahi!" Haru's foot slipped, causing Tsuna to lunge out and support Haru's weight, using his hands as a substitute branch until Haru found her footing again.

"Go Tsuna-kun!" Kyoko cheered, causing the children to get riled up again. Tsuna sweatdropped before hauling himself up to the last branch.

"Hahi! Thank you for saving Haru!" the girl exclaimed as she accepted Tsuna's extended hand.

"N-No problem," Tsuna gritted out as he concentrated on not _slipping_. They inched carefully to the trunk before Tsuna released their hands. "I'll go down first so if you happen to slip or fall, I'll be able to catch you." _If I don't fall first, that is._ Haru nodded.

With Tsuna carefully watching Haru's movements (and successfully managing not to look _directly _up—they advanced downwards. The children's ceaseless cheering were drawing some curious stares from passing cars.

Tsuna almost cried in relief when he saw that he was almost there. The feeling abruptly ended when his foot touched air and he slipped. He cursed himself for being foolhardy as he braced himself for impact. _Well, the ground isn't that far away—maybe I'll get away with just a broken wrist or something? Ah, but that would definitely affect my job. Speaking of which, I wonder if I got it. The trial the period's about to end…wait, how the hell am I even to think about all of this while I'm falling?" _

Tsuna cracked open an eye, the other following immediately as they were met with Hibari's slate blue ones. The skylark held him in a princess hold. His mouth went dry with the look Hibari gave him—the infamous _I'll bite you to death _look—however, his eyes seemed to convey something else as well.  
>Tsuna put two and two together.<p>

The children's eyes grew rounder and rounder as Haru safely ascended from the tree and flicked over from her to Tsuna.

"Tsu-tan is a princess," Minako said solemnly. The other children nodded their heads in agreement.

"Tsuna-kun also rescued Haru-chan from the evil, people-eating tree," Kyoko said as Tsuna shot her a helpless look. "Which makes him a prince."

Ayumi, who had grown quite attached to Hibari in the short amount of time, announced "Hiba-kun is the prince! He saved Tsu-tan!"

"Haru-chan can be a queen," another child piped in, whose name Tsuna faintly remembered—Shiori?

"Um, then who is the king?" Minako asked, sparking a heated discussion that didn't include the two hosts.

"Ne, ne, maybe Yodami-kun can be the king!" Kagura—a toddler with shocking blonde hair—chimed in.

The tan, dark-haired child sputtered indignantly. "Haruharu is too old!"

"Haru doesn't need a king! She's strong enough on her own," Haru said defiantly.

"You can't be a queen without a king!" Kagura insisted.

Meanwhile, Tsuna wriggled in Hibari's grasp.

"You can put me down now," he said after a few more vain attempts to escape the skylark's grip.

Hibari smirked. "I thought princesses needed saving."

Tsuna spluttered incoherently and went pink in the face. "Just let me down."

Hibari abruptly dropped the brunet's legs, causing said brunet to throw his hands around the elder's neck to prevent himself from gracelessly falling on the ground (thankfully, no one had seemed to witness the exchange). Tsuna offered a glare (pout) at Hibari before releasing his arms and checking his watch (the latest model from Bvlgari, courtesy of Giotto). He should head back soon if he wanted to get a bite to eat before another shift. He offhandedly noted the fact that any awkwardness that had existed between him and Hibari during _that _night had seemed almost completely dissipated.

"Sasa—Kyoko," Tsuna called. "I—We have to go."

Kyoko nodded and waved goodbye, but Haru ran full sprint towards him and hugged him. Tsuna stood stock-still in her vice grip, managing to ask, "Yes, Haru-san?"

"Even if the children don't agree, you're still my prince for saving me!" Haru reached for the brunet's hand as she scribbled some numbers in his hand. "Oh wait, let me write Kyoko-chan's too," Haru said after hasty consideration. "Come visit us again! I'll be waiting for you, Tsuna-san!"

"H-Hai."

The children, who had caught wind of their departure, clambered to wave goodbye to the two hosts.

"Bye-bye Tsu-tan!"s and a few rare "Bye-bye Hiba-kun!"s (mostly Ayumi) filled the air as they left. Tsuna smiled warmly, the softness lingering on his lips minutes after.

* * *

><p>They walked back in the general direction of the cafe in companionable silence until Tsuna broke it.<p>

"Is there any specific place you want to go to?" he asked.

Hibari suddenly pivoted on his heel into a different direction. Tsuna took that as a "yes" and followed him, taking in the unfamiliar scenery as they passed by various stores. He had to essentially study the map from the café to the daycare to not get lost on his way there; that was how bad his directional skills were.

No less than 2 minutes later, they walked inside a hamburger joint. Tsuna couldn't conceal his surprise at the Hibari's choice of meal as he calmly walked up to the counter and placed an order.

_Well…_this made the skylark appear more of a mundane human like the rest of mankind.

"Uh...I'll be having the same as him," Tsuna said when prompted with the question of what he wanted to order, looking sheepishly at Hibari as he shrugged. To be truthful, his mother was a culinary genius and there wasn't a day that passed in his life back in Namimori when he didn't have her delicious cooking. He didn't go out with his "friends" (Enma) to eat often either. Actually, he didn't go out unless he absolutely had to.

The wait time was exceedingly short, and Tsuna could bet that it was at least partially Hibari's influence. They walked to a table by the window in silence after they paid, each taking a seat as they set down their tray. Tsuna reached for several napkins that were stuffed in the paper bag that held his food, eyebrows scrunching together when he saw numbers scrawled across them. Raising his gaze, he realized that Hibari had received the same treatment but had disregarded everything altogether and was concentrated on his meal. His gaze traveled back to the cashier who had packed the bag for him, blushing shyly when she smiled prettily and waved at him. However, his attention was snapped back to Hibari when a heavy pressure sat on his foot.

"Eat," the skylark said with a scowl. Tsuna hastily complied.

They ate in silence. Tsuna was pleasantly surprised with how good the food tasted, especially the fries. He imagined that he would come back to this place just for those _fries_—damn, they were heavenly. Suddenly, he was struck with a question he thought he might know the answer to. He fiddled with the French fries as he wondered how to ask it.

"Speak, herbivore."

The brunet jumped. Hibari smirked to himself. It was always fun to mess with the herbivore like this.

"Ah, I was just wondering…is hamburger your favorite food?" the brunet said nervously.

"Yes." Tsuna blinked, dumbfounded at finally receiving a straightforward answer. Wordlessly, Hibari cleared their trays, fighting the smile that threatened to form on his lips as Tsuna grabbed the fries that he hadn't yet finished.

"W-What? They're good," Tsuna said, averting his eyes as his cheeks colored when Hibari continued staring at him. The skylark's lips twitched before he frowned. _What the hell. _He turned sharply and dumped the trays in the bin. _I just did not think that herbivore was…cute_.

What was wrong with him?

* * *

><p>"How was the daycare, Tsuna?" Giotto asked his brother as they prepared to split up. Hibari and Tsuna had met Giotto's group on their way back.<p>

"It was—" Tsuna was interrupted as he jealously guarded his fries; glaring at Mukuro (who was neither in Giotto's nor his group and had just appeared out of nowhere) in case he had another notion of stealing _his _fries. Everyone was struck with how _moe _Tsuna was (sans certain people).

"It was really fun," Tsuna finished. Giotto ruffled his hair, narrowing his eyes when he saw Hibari and Mukuro speaking quietly. _Quietly. _That was just…unsightly. It looked like they were provoking each other, but they were provoking each other _quietly._ What the hell were they up to this time?

"—right, Giotto-nii?" Giotto nodded his head absentmindedly. Cozart and Asari stifled their laughter. G looked at his friend, then immediately saw what he was concerned with. The redhead shook his head defeatedly. This probably wasn't going to go down well.

* * *

><p>Tsuna cocked his head. Normally Giotto was an avid listener, but he could tell he hadn't heard a single thing he said ("So Godzilla was the one that climbed the Empire State building, right, Giotto-nii?")<p>

* * *

><p>"I bet you couldn't steal a fry from him," Mukuro said provocatively.<p>

"I've already had my fill," Hibari replied, trying not to get his feathers ruffled for once.

"I'm thinking at how many ways I can steal one from him," Mukuro said, eyes gleaming as they took on the look of a predator who had sighted prey. "Preferably off of him…"

Hibari narrowed his eyes, hating how easily he fell for Mukuro's trap. "Shut the fuck up and leave me alone after this then."

The blue-haired host smirked as the skylark stalked over to the unsuspecting Tsuna. He was really too easy to manipulate when it came down to Tsuna, Mukuro mused. He normally was harder to budge than this. The host's eyes glinted. Oh, how much fun he could have…

* * *

><p>"Tsunayoshi."<p>

_Tsunayoshi, not herbivore. _Tsuna's mind clicked as he looked up, having just put another fry in his mouth. "Ye—mmpphh!" His eyes kept on widening as Hibari's tongue made its presence known when it stole the fry from his mouth. Just as Hibari was about to pull away in triumph, Tsuna fisted the front of his uniform and pulled him back, intruding upon Hibari's mouth as he made a move to obtain his fry back.

* * *

><p>Mukuro's smothered chuckles soon turned into guffaws as G, Cozart, and Asari together held Giotto back.<p>

"Who knew Tsunayoshi-kun had game?" Mukuro wheezed out, almost doubled over in his laughter.

People from inside the café were intently watching the free show.

There was a collective "oh, _shit_" when Giotto escaped the hold and hurled himself towards Hibari. The skylark pushed Tsuna away and sidestepped the attack, running to meet Giotto's second rush, taking out his tonfas the same moment Giotto donned on his gloves.

Tsuna stood, dazed and out of it as his slightly amber eyes reverted back to brown. He had been indignant when Hibari had stolen a fry from him in such a manner and wanted to reciprocate, but somehow he had lost his initial resolve and had kissed Hibari just to kiss him. It was...enjoyable…and he had wanted more…

* * *

><p>G felt slight concern for Hibari. Neither were in their top form (that usually occurred when school started and the need for discipline began), but Giotto looked like he was out to kill. Both had plenty of experience, fuel, and will, but Giotto's resolve was stronger. Tsuna was his priority, after all. The turning point was when said priority jumped into the fray with no protection at all.<p>

* * *

><p>Hibari's back slammed against a tree from Tsuna's push. It hadn't even <em>looked <em>that strong, so how could there have been this much power? He watched as he pinned down his older brother. His intrigue at the herbivore rose again as he scowled and dug his tonfa out of the tree bark. He was able to kiss that pineapple bastard without having his feelings mixed up like this.

Why was he feeling this way?

* * *

><p>Tsuna breathed hard as he sat on top of Giotto. He really needed to start to work out again if this tired him out.<p>

"Reborn taught you a lot, huh?" Giotto said with a smile. Tsuna nodded, then delivered words that any older brother dreaded to hear.

"I think I like Hibari-san."

* * *

><p>Please point out any and all errors that I may have made (spell check doesn't work in the doc manager D:).<p>

Comments are appreciated, and don't hesitate to ask any questions!

Have a nice spring everyone! -from the person who's having spring break soon- ;D !


	9. Acceptance and Hamburger Steaks

Hi guys, sorry this update took longer than usual. The original chapter 9 got deleted off my flash drive when I thought I had transferred it over (apparently Word jumbled some things up and wouldn't currently translate into LibreOffice). You should've seen me, I was raging OTL.

**Thanks for all the lovely reviews! **Because of them, right after the deletion happened, I decided to get straight to work even though I felt downright dreadful. & sorry if the updates really do come slow now, I have 12-hour workdays on my job most days.

Hope you enjoy! & feel free to comment c:

* * *

><p><strong>Things to note<strong>: 1600 yen = roughly $20

_Itadakimasu_ = Japanese, you say it before you eat

Doki = sound effect for a beating heart

* * *

><p>Giotto grounded him. To the end of eternity.<p>

Correction—he tried to.

_"Modo Attaco."_

_"Big Bang Axle!"_

Their gloved fists met and held for a few moments before they each rebounded to a safe spot.

_"Mitena!" _Giotto drew back his fist and rushed forward as he concentrated all of his power in one point.

_"Burning Axle," _Tsuna countered. Defending with offense was the best move against Giotto, whose strength was monstrous.

G's eyebrow twitched as the two switched to martial arts—judo matched with aikido—then muay thai and savate—later followed by kung fu and karate. While they were putting up a very impressive show, they were bound to end up with injuries if they kept on fighting aggressively like this. Although he couldn't really label it as fighting—they were _physically_, but the gleam in Giotto's eye matched the one in Tsuna's. Hell, it looked like they were getting a kick out of this.

He had seen Hibari's gaze riveted upon the two out of the corner of his eye. Che. He was so in sync with Alaude, right down to the attraction to a Sawada. Mukuro seemed to be enjoying the show a little too much—he even had a bag of popcorn (probably conned from an innocent bypasser). Neither Cozart or Asari seemed to want to wait it out. In fact, Cozart looked like he was getting ready to rush in to stop Giotto.

"Giotto," G thundered.

"What?" Giotto answered crossly as Tsuna wriggled his way out of a headlock.

"There's a dojo you can use later if you want, but you're attracting too much attention here." A crowd had formed a ring around them. Hibari had taken off right when it started to form. "Take Tsuna on a walk to sort things out." G wanted to facepalm when Giotto childishly rolled his eyes.

"Fine, whatever," he announced flippantly as he dragged Tsuna behind him as he trailed a blaze through the mob of people.

"Kufufu." Mukuro's eyes sparkled mischievously. "How much time do you give Tsuna before Kyouya pounces on him?"

"Not very much," G answered truthfully.

* * *

><p>"Reborn really whipped you in shape," Giotto commented. Tsuna groaned just from thinking about the training. "Think you'll be able to take Dino on now?"<p>

Tsuna hummed. "I haven't fought with him in almost 5 years. Maybe."

Giotto's eyes widened suddenly. "Don't move Tsuna, but there's a bat on your shoulder—"

"H-Hieee!" Tsuna yelped immediately as he frantically tried to shake the nonexistent bat off.

"Sike." Giotto laughed warmly when Tsuna sent him a furious pout. "So about Hibari," he tried to start off lightly.

"Oh. What about him?" The brunet flushed pink.

"I'll allow you to date if:"

Tsuna started to pale as Giotto rattled things off on his fingers. 1) No going on dates without a supervisor. 2) No kissing without a supervisor. 3) No being alone without a supervisor. 4) No fighting without a supervisor. 5) No calling/texting without a supervisor. 6) No marrying (which tied in to no eloping) without the supervisor's consent. Guess who the supervisor was?

"G-Giotto-nii!" Tsuna blurted out, flustered. "Why are you thinking so far? And weren't you the one that told me that there's only a one in a million chance that the person you like will return your feelings? And some of your rules don't even make sense!"

Oho. Well. That wasn't exactly true—the one in a million thing—but it was still pretty amazing when two people were mutually attracted to each other. Still, there were certain things you can do to cultivate feelings—or make someone realize them (Hibari). Although it would take a helluva intervention to get Hibari to get in touch with his emotions. So:

"No seducing, Tsuna."

"I—I—I—" After several attempts to form a coherent sentence, Tsuna opted for a punch instead. "How the hell am I supposed to seduce Hibari-san when I don't even know how to?" he shouted, his face burning crimson when he realized he said that a lot louder than necessary.

Giotto rubbed his shoulder as he sighed. "I can't enforce all of those rules on you if I wanted to anyway. I'm not in control of you." Though the look in his eye conveyed that he would very much like to keep Tsuna pure for the rest of eternity (although it was his own fault that Tsuna became a host at the café, therefore losing a part of his innocence forever).

Tsuna smiled. Giotto didn't have a complete brother complex. It was just that he tried to make up for Iemitsu not being home as often as he should be. "You don't have anything to worry about anyway. Pigs will fly sooner than Hibari-san liking me back."

The elder coughed. Maybe he shouldn't mention that Verde had already engineered a species of flying pigs. While it was almost confirmed that Hibari was asexual, he still had hormones—and the other day he had heard from a source (read: Reborn) that Hibari had acted oddly when around Tsuna. Plus, they shared a dorm room. Two people alone was never a good idea. A shadow fell over his eyes when he recalled Hibari's past. Alaude had told him what was necessary. If Hibari didn't have enough love for himself, how could he give any to Tsuna? He summoned a smile with some effort. Maybe Tsuna could change Hibari.

"You got the job, by the way," Giotto said. He refused to hand Tsuna a heavier burden than Fuuta. He made sure to memorize the way Tsuna's features erupted in happiness, the way his smile easily widened. By giving him to Hibari, this might all disappear for a while if things went sour.

* * *

><p>Tsuna had gaped at the menu he was handed. Spanner had already revised everything and added his names permanently to the database—but what was this about <em>1600 yen<em>for _one _kiss? He had asked if Spanner has miscalculated (the forever mellow blond _glared _at him when he had asked—apparently he got a bit testy whenever his calculations were doubted), but he had shook his head. Apparently Giotto had helped with the prices, but still. The amount of money he was earning was almost exorbitant. Shoichi had handed him his pay for the trial period, which was half of what he would earn—and his eyes had doubled at the excess of digits. But this would help a lot with Fuuta's hospital bills. Dino wouldn't have to worry so much about paying most of it anymore.

Now he was peering over the top of his student manual at Hibari, whose shift ended at the same time his did. His schedule mirrored Hibari's, so their hours and off days matched perfectly. His eyes flitted to the clock—5:30. His stomach gave a rumbling growl in answer. He blushed lightly, peeking at Hibari again to see if the elder had noticed. Nada. Hibari remained unaffected as he turned a page in his book with his earphones on.

_Split Second _was the name of the book he was reading, Tsuna observed. He had concluded that Hibari was a fast reader because the books alternated almost every day. It would be fitting if Hibari's major was Law Enforcement or Criminal Justice, Tsuna thought. He fiddled with his watch as he wondered what Hibari thought about the lunch incident. Did Hibari really kiss him just so he could get a fry?

His eyes wandered around Hibari's side of the room, fixating on a small form on top of the Skylark's drawer. _Roll._

"Piii." Tsuna blushed again as the hedgehog reminded him about the other night. He briefly wondered what its gender was before closing his student manual.

He was just too _hungry_ to concentrate on anything. Basil usually cooked everything and left leftovers, but earlier he had checked the refrigerator and was faced with all sorts of ingredients, but no meals whatsoever. No one was due home until 7:30 (Giotto, Alaude, Colonello, and Lal who went to a female dorm). Basil was staying late because he had to demonstrate something for Enma.

He sat up as a light bulb flashed over his head. He was pretty sure Hibari hadn't eaten either. He could take this as an opportunity to make Hibari a meal as a part of his thanks for the other night (he was pretty sure he had seen something that looked like hamburger in the fridge). He smiled happily as he headed downstairs to the kitchen, unaware of the gaze that followed him out the door.

* * *

><p>Tsuna stared at the ground beef in his hands. At least he thought it was ground beef. The ridiculous price tag that hung off the edge alerted him that this must be very high quality ground beef because he had never seen that many zeros on a price tag before. His mother prided herself in being a culinary genius despite her usage of prosaic food items. Organized neatly on the counter-top were ingredients for what he was going to make.<p>

He hummed as he set the beef down next to the eggs and flipped the switch on the rice cooker, noting the time as he did so. He had burnt the rice on more than one occasion when he first started (his mother taught him the fine art of multitasking by making him cook a whole meal within a time limit). He washed his hands after preheating the stove to start preparing the food. Hibari had said that his favorite food was hamburger—but that didn't mean he wouldn't enjoy hamburger steak, right? Besides, hamburger steak was one of his personal favorites.

After he finished chopping the onions and sauteed them until they were translucent, he left the pan on the stove to let it cool. Meanwhile he soaked the breadcrumbs in milk and combined it with the egg, salt, ground pepper, and nutmeg. By the time he finished, the onions were sufficiently cooled in time to amalgamate everything with the meat.

Tsuna divided the meat into two pieces, slapping and turning each piece with his palms until the surface grew smooth. He indented the middle of the raw steaks with his thumb to insure that the middle would get cooked evenly. He placed the hamburgers a good distance apart in an already heated pan and prodded them lightly with a spatula at a regular interval. When they fried to a brown color, Tsuna flipped them over and covered the pan with a lid. He glanced at the clock. The rice needed fifteen more minutes, the hamburgers ten to steam-cook, then after that he needed to make the sauce—so he had time to finish the miso soup he had cooking plus some time left over to cook some potatoes as a side.

He uncapped the lid on the simmering soup, inhaling its aroma as warm air rushed towards him—the hamburgers were starting to smell really delicious too. He spooned some of the hot dashi stock in his ladle before adding some miso and proceeded to mix it together with a pair of chopsticks. Slowly, he added the combined mixture slowly back into the soup and capped the pot again.

After hefting the pot to the back of the stove to open a space up in the front, he tossed in some potatoes that he had previously boiled into an already heated and oiled pan. He tossed the potatoes around a little before adding a little butter, salt, pepper, and a sprinkle of chopped parsley. After tossing the potatoes around for another minute, he lifted the pan and poured its contents into the two plates that he had placed beside the stove. After dumping the pan in the sink, he went to check on the hamburgers, lifting them up with a spatula and placing them beside the potatoes on the plates after he confirmed that they were ready.

_Now for the sauce..._Tsuna deglazed the pan with some dry red wine. He added some ketchup and Bulldog tonkatsu sauce and started to blend it with his spatula. He was about to commence turning off the stove and pouring the sauce over the hamburgers when he jumped at Hibari's voice.

"What is that?"

"O-Ow!" Tsuna cursed mentally when some of the sauce on the spatula splattered on his wrist. "That is _hot,_" he muttered as he tossed the spatula in the sink. "It's hamburger steak Hibari-san, I'm sure you've—" He squeaked inaudibly when he realized Hibari was much, much closer than he had thought. He gulped and tried to hold Hibari's gaze, only to avert it a few seconds later as his cheeks flamed.

…

_Giotto-nii, you jynxer, _Tsuna thought contemptuously when Hibari grasped his wrist to lick off the sauce. _H-Hibari-san is naturally seductive...who's seducing who?_

"T-Thanks," Tsuna mumbled when Hibari loosened his grip after licking all the sauce off his wrist. Was this his future? Inadvertently doing things like _that _because he was so used to it at the café? He elbowed Hibari lightly to get him out of the way so he could finish pouring the sauce. After that was done, he left the pan in the sink and switched off the stove and rice cooker. "I'm almost done, could you set the table?" he asked the Skylark.

There was an almost imperceptible nod before Hibari headed off. Tsuna ladled the miso soup into bowls and rice onto the plates and cleaned up the counter (read: dumping everything into the sink) before carrying the food out to the living room.

"Itadakimasu," they both said quietly.

Hibari forked a piece of the hamburger steak in his mouth, chewing slowly as Tsuna stared expectantly at him. After a couple more chews he swallowed and locked eyes with Tsuna. "It's good." _It's better than a regular hamburger._

Tsuna's eyes seemed to sparkle as he started to dig in to his own food. "That's great! I was worrying about the taste."

They ate in mutual silence until Tsuna cleared his throat. "Thanks. Again. For the other night. And I'm sorry I pushed you in a tree," Tsuna said abashedly. Hibari met his eyes to acknowledge what he said before dropping back down to his food.

"Hibari-san, what are you majoring in?" Tsuna asked curiously after swallowing a bite of hamburger.

"Criminal Justice and Psychology." Tsuna made a soft 'oh' sound when he heard his suspicious confirmed. Then could it be that...

"Do you not read the whole book then, Hibari-san?" Tsuna asked. "You stop when you figure out who the culprit is, right?"

Hibari glanced sharply at him. In addition to being somewhat strong (after all, he _had_ been pushed into a tree), Tsuna seemed to have an eerily dead-on intuition. "Hn." _I'll bite him to death later._

Tsuna was slowly getting a grasp on Hibari's language—which mostly consisted of grunts, growls, eyebrow twitches, eye narrowings, and angry body language in general. Had he ever even seen him smile before? But no—wait, there was that one time when there was a soft look on his face when Hibird perched on his finger. But he was digressing—"hn" probably meant "yes." He looked up when Hibari stood and made his way towards the kitchen.

"Hibari-san, just leave your dishes in the sink. I'll put them in the dishwasher later." Tsuna blinked when he heard Hibari's reponse.

"Are you a woman?"

"Of course not!" Tsuna replied indignantly. "It's just that—that..." Open mouth, insert foot. "Mmfmkfgja." His face wore a pout when he joined Hibari at the sink, watching him confusedly as he loaded the dirty pots and pans in the dishwasher.

"Hibari-san, I don't think you're supposed to put those in there..." Tsuna sweatdropped when Hibari deadpanned a "why not?"

"U-Um, it's called a dishwasher for a reason...pots and pans are too big," Tsuna said sagely. "And it would probably crack." He remembered Nana saying something about stainless steel too but he couldn't remember what it was.

"Hn." Hibari scowled. "We'll see." Tsuna wasn't given a chance to respond when Hibari took the plates from and him proceeded to load the rest of the dirty dinnerware in the dishwasher. _I really don't want to pay for all of that if it gets ruined..._Tsuna whined in his head.

When Tsuna finished cleaning up the counter with Hibari's help (the tasks he had given the elder were as simplistic and mundane as possible—Hibari couldn't do household chores at all), he stared balefully at the dishwasher. He didn't notice how he had somehow gravitated towards Hibari. It was only when he was trapped against the counter did he realize their proximity. He inadvertently sniffed Hibari's scent when he opened his mouth to question their position. All of a sudden the heat between them increased tenfold—how was it that he could mange to feel completely at ease with Hibari yet so incredibly...hot at the same time?

_Doki doki_

Hibari grasped Tsuna's chin with his fingers and tugged gently until Tsuna's eyes met his.

_Dokidokidoki_

Very slowly, Hibari descended upon Tsuna's lips.

_Dokidokidokido_—

Tsuna's heart skipped a beat.

_DOKIDOKIDOKI_

Their lips pressed lightly together, the fragile kiss soon morphing into an ardent affair as Hibari pinned Tsuna's hands down against the counter with his own. The smaller brunet was caged by Hibari as he was subjected to the mastery of his tongue. Tsuna wasn't capable of fully breaking out of his Hibari-induced euphoric cloud, but he managed to reciprocate back somehow when he tentatively probed the not-so-foreign-anymore interior of Hibari's mouth. It tasted primarily of hamburger, but the taste that so uniquely belonged to the Skylark wasn't entirely masked. Heat seemed to radiate from Hibari as they pressed impossibly closer. It was hard to believe that there was still space between them.

Tsuna whimpered softly when he shifted and caused his body to rub up against Hibari's in a salacious manner. He bit down lightly on Hibari's lip as he recalled the way the elder had grinded against him just a few days ago, the memory causing his pants to tighten uncomfortably as he squirmed. His movement only served to harden his arousal even further, and he moaned in Hibari's mouth.

"Damn hormones." Tsuna half-muttered, half-gasped when Hibari released his hold over one of his hands to cup his erection. The Skylark dominated his tongue again with a vengeance. Tsuna was suddenly very appreciative of the fact that nobody else was in the dorm house (mansion), only to realize a beat later that he spoke too soon.

Alaude was leaning against the doorway, smirking in smug amusement when Tsuna shot him a frantic look. Hibari, to Alaude's surprise, didn't look too annoyed that they were disrupted. Instead, he was smirking back as he tossed something black through the air—a phone, Tsuna's eyes told him.

Alaude's eyes widened fractionally when he saw the screen.

"Tsuna," Giotto called from somewhere outside the kitchen. Tsuna wrenched himself away from Hibari, and like a rabbit, bounded up the stairs faster than humanely possible.

"I'mtiredI'mgoingtosleepGiotto-nii!"

"Kid needs his sleep anyway," Giotto remarked as he entered the kitchen. "He's got a long day ahead of him tomorrow." He paused next to Alaude and curiously sniffed the air. "It smells good in here. Did Tsuna cook something?"

"Hn," Alaude growled lowly as he watched Hibari's retreating figure.

* * *

><p>Hibari himself wasn't sure how it exactly happened. Maybe Tsuna had set it off when his body pressed against his own. There was something about Tsuna that spelled "ravish me!" every time he laid his eyes on him—there was a natural, seductive quality that the boy possessed but had no idea how to control it.<p>

Tsuna was curled in a fetal position on his bed. So delicate-looking...yet, he was undeniably strong, though Hibari didn't know the limits of his strength yet. So innocent...yet his very presence did wicked things to his libido. He was so full of paradoxes and oxymorons, yet no set of words could truly do him justice. There was no other person that intrigued him as much as Sawada Tsunayoshi. When he was around, he could think of nothing else.

"I don't want to live anymore," he thought he heard Tsuna mumble. Hibari's lips quirked very slightly in amusement.

"I suppose I could bite you to death," the Skylark offered diplomatically. The brunet immediately straightened and sat up.

"I said that out loud?" He hurriedly raised his palms out flat in surrender. "And please don't!" Tsuna watched nervously as Hibari slowly stalked over, gulping when his personal body space was breached. He made a strangled protest when Hibari sat down and reached over to pick him up, his half-uttered sentence morphing into a quiet gasp when his arousal rubbed lightly against Hibari's as he was placed on his lap. His eyes lowered to half-mast as he loosely wrapped his legs around Hibari to get them out of the way. Were they...were they going to continue where they left off? Tsuna didn't really have any qualms against that, choosing to let the Skylark pull them into a kiss as his hands groped for something to secure themselves onto, eventually curling to grasp Hibari's shoulders. His eyes flickered shut when the elder slipped past his lax lips and ventured into his mouth. The brunet made a soft, appreciative sound when when their lower regions met again. He tilted just so until Hibari was given the perfect angle to work with. Their tongues met and retreated until Tsuna held out and forced entry into the still slightly uncharted territory of Hibari's mouth. A pleasant heat spread through Tsuna's body as the kiss grew deeper and more passionate, his eyes shut in bliss as he bucked lightly in Hibari's lap.

The moment was abruptly interrupted when Tsuna's cell beeped. His brows furrowed in annoyance as he drew it from his pocket and opened an eye to check its screen.

Hibari growled lowly when Tsuna pulled away, narrowing his eyes when a cell was shoved in his face.

**I know what you're doing. Stop molesting Tsuna. –Giotto**

Hibari stared impassively at the screen. Well, even the great fall. He could only wonder what Alaude had been subjected to to reveal the truth. Giotto was rather sharp.

Tsuna was caught off guard when Hibari took his phone from him and began to text something back.

**It's not molesting if he wants it.**

Tsuna flushed pink at the message. After realizing his crush, he had expected for the atmosphere to turn awkward whenever they were together—but whatever was between them remained the same.

He _really _wanted this, so screw Giotto and his overprotectiveness. He pocketed his cell and tugged on Hibari's shirtfront, eliciting a smirk from the elder.

_Alright. _He wasn't against receiving some action.

* * *

><p>"Hnnh...ah," Tsuna gasped quietly, somehow out of breath even though all they had been doing was kissing and light touching for the past fifteen minutes. Why couldn't he tire of Hibari? Instead, the more time they spent together, the more he wanted Hibari, not less. Anyway, this was such a pleasant torture that Tsuna forgot in the midst of it that he still hadn't been allowed to cum yet. Hibari would stop applying pressure the second he felt like he was going to be overwhelmed.<p>

However, Hibari's own erection made him wince a little. It looked more painful than his—not that he could really see it, since they were both still clothed.

Tsuna bit back another gasp when Hibari unzipped his fly and took out his cock, making a complete mess of him when he gave it a firm stroke. Any form of coherent thought fled his mind, his fingers bunching up the sheets around him when the Skylark's fingers circled around the head of his arousal. He tried to hold back a moan as he bit his lip in vain. The sound materialized anyway, the obscenity flushing Tsuna's cheeks as he averted his eyes. Sexual frustration...yeah, that was it. That was the driving force behind this. In the Decimo section; only he and Hibari opted to take cold showers regularly rather than jerking themselves off by themselves or the help of somebody else (excluding that one time). So all this pent up sexual frustration had...Tsuna froze when Hibari started undoing his own zipper...to go somewhere?

Hibari smirked when Tsuna's mouth opened and closed in rapid successions without any audible words emerging when he saw the Skylark's thickened length. Hibari tugged Tsuna's pants a few inches down, bringing his boxers along with it. Tsuna made a surprised noise when his ass was exposed.

With a finger, Hibari lightly rubbed over Tsuna's perineum while keeping his eyes on the brunet to gauge his reaction. The result was a set of widened eyes and a quivering lower lip—Hibari hn'd before deciding that the response meant he wasn't quite ready for what he had in mind. He would puzzle over the boggling fact that he had given up so quickly in his conquest of Tsuna's ass later.

Tsuna flushed a deep red when Hibari wrapped a hand around both of their arousals together and gave a tug, unable to harness back the low moan that resulted from the pleasure.

"Do that again," Tsuna panted out, inhaling sharply when Hibari obliged. "Mmn, j-just like that." He flushed crimson when he realized how straightforward that sounded. "A-_ah,_" he moaned as he bit his lip in vain. Being inexperienced as he was, he could feel the ball of heat in the pit of his stomach already begin to tighten forewarningly. "Hibari-san, I think—" As if expecting it, Hibari wrapped his left hand tightly around the base of Tsuna's arousal, effectively cutting off the feeling of impending release.

"Not yet," Hibari said before resuming the pumping. Tsuna squirmed under the sensations, valiantly trying to control his volume level as his breaths came out in harsh gasps and whimpers. _So close. _Tsuna made a sound that caught in his throat when the prickling feeling expanded as Hibari released his hand, orgasm sending his body in a mini-paroxysm of pleasure seconds later. His essence spurted messily on both of their shirts as he shuddered lightly in the afterglow. When his mind refocused he reached out a hand to help Hibari get off, only to have it parried. The Skylark pressed a light kiss against Tsuna's lips, a smirk gracing his face.

"Thanks for the meal."

* * *

><p>Sorry if I make any mistakes, tell me if I committed any really dreadful ones so I can fix it up. Otherwise, I want to catch up on my sleep. &amp; did you guys know that Tsuna's favorite food is salisbury steak? And technically, a hamburger steak is a variation of that, so...Hibari &amp; Tsuna share the same favorite food! 8D (Btw, thanks to the kind reviewer who reminded me that it was hamburger steak, not plain hamburger).<p>

I credit the Just Hungry site by Makiko Itoh for hamburger steak recipe + directions in the cooking scene (all of her recipes make me really hungry).


	10. Returning Favors and Lamps

ok guys don't fight over who gets to kill me

WHY DIDN'T I POST THIS EARLIER? Fkalksdalajf this chapter was just waiting to get written, but I never got sufficient inspiration _ So I started exercising my brain a little and started writing little oneshots/ficlets (that's what Savoir Faire was for, which btw, I will get to since the weekend looms close!). That helped push me along, and then I read this amazing manga and then after that a novel and I was so inspired and yeah I'm sorry I took so long.

I'm excited to write the next chapter, but it might have to wait until I post chapter 4 of my class reunion fic (yes, that fic is alive, I'm working on it!)

Thank you everyone for all of your support and encouragement :)

**Note: **7/9/12 - beta'd by **Coryza Cor, **my awesome & speedy (seriously, when she sets her mind on it, it's like _bam, _done) beta n_n!

* * *

><p>It felt like all the blood remaining in his body had rushed to his cheeks. <em>M-Meal? <em>Did he mean about the dinner earlier or...he couldn't help it, it was hard to wrap his head around sexual innuendo! "U-Um..." And Hibari was actually making a move to get _away _with an erection that was...Tsuna swallowed dryly. Ignoring his state of dress and the need for a shower, he lunged for Hibari—a general maneuver to stop the Skylark from leaving but as a curse (or blessing) from fate nearly ended up as sexual harassment. Tsuna blushed as his hand landed on top of Hibari's arousal, improvising on the spot to prevent things from going awkward. He stroked it cautiously, feeling a tinge of smug satisfaction when the movement elicited a low moan from Hibari.

Hibari's jaw clenched. He never knew that the herbivore possessed such _audacity. _"Tsunayo—" he had to cut off his sentence to prevent himself from making an unnecessary, herbivorous noise.

Tsuna refused to meet Hibari's eyes as he started a rhythm with his stroking. The situation they were in was too embarrassing to warrant a face-to-face discussion. This really was hard though (pun intended). Tsuna knew that Hibari's preferences would be different from his own, but it was really hard to tell when this was his first time. Experimentally, he gripped a little tighter, assuming that the sharp intake of breath that followed was a negative response.

"Ah, sorry I didn't mean to—"

"Don't stop," Hibari bit out. Tsuna glanced up, surprised. So he had liked—

He realized that this was an awkward move about half a second later—Hibari's face was _way too sexy _for him to handle. Tsuna prayed that he wouldn't get hard again from watching Hibari's face alone—now that would just be completely mortifying. But he found it hard to tear his gaze away, and Hibari wasn't making a move to glance away either. Tsuna flicked his wrist a little further out, Hibari's ragged breathing fueling his efforts. Finding that his left hand was getting tired, he made a move to swap his hands around Hibari only to have the Skylark swat it away. He looked up questioningly, only to have his vision blinded by Hibari's hand.

"Don't. Ask." Tsuna nodded, terribly confused but obeying the Skylark's orders. A few seconds later, Tsuna heard Hibari exhale a shaky breath. Realization dawned on Tsuna right before Hibari unbarred his vision.

"I'mgoingtowashupfirstHibari-san!" Tsuna discreetly tucked himself in and made a mad dash for the bathroom (later, wondering how he had managed to pull it off). Hibari blinked before going through the necessary mechanical motions to clean up. He exhaled a long sigh. _Shit._

* * *

><p>Tsuna pressed his forehead against the cool tiled walls of the shower. Was he going too far? Wasn't that act reserved for a more...intimate relationship? Yes, he liked Hibari but... Wasn't this the wrong way to go about it? Not even a week ago Hibari was just a stranger. But there was something about Hibari, something irresistible, something that was untenable. Every time he was near Hibari, he was struck with an uncharacteristic urge to just reach out and touch him. Being with him felt safe, felt...<em>right. <em>He wasn't sure how to explain the feeling, but it was like Hibari was a desire, sanctuary, and dream all wrapped up in one.

No. He was overthinking it, wasn't he? Right. They were just friends who helped each other every once in a while.

Friends. Just friends. Hibari Kyouya was out of his league.

* * *

><p>"Hibari-san, you can use the bathroom now," Tsuna said, pink cheeks giving away his composure. He shielded his face with his towel as Hibari walked past, releasing his breath in relief when he finally heard the door click shut. He threw himself on his bed with a sigh. What was he thinking? Giotto was going to <em>kill <em>him—

"Tsuna! Hey Tsuna, open up! That son of a bitch better not have done anything to you or I swear I'll have his head!" _Speak of the devil, _Tsuna thought with a groan. Giotto's shouting was punctuated by his fist beating against the door with enough force that it was probably rattling the door frame.

"I'm okay, Giotto-nii!" Tsuna yelled from his post on the bed. He rolled once before tumbling over the side of the bed and landing on the carpeted floor in a heap. _This carpet feels really soft, _Tsuna thought absentmindedly before thanking his lucky stars that nobody saw his fumble. He righted himself before unlocking the door with caution.

Giotto immediately bulldozed over him, his rage nearly palpable as he scoured the room for Hibari.

"Where'sthatsonofabitch—" Alaude wordlessly helped Tsuna up before striding over to Giotto. The ash blond calmly placed a hand over Giotto's shoulder. Tsuna's eyes widened at the almost instant change. That was the first time he'd seen someone apart from Dino capable of accomplishing such a dramatic mood change. His brother relaxed, sheepishly running a hand through his hair as he muttered some words that he couldn't hear.

_"Alouette, gentille alouette..."_

Tsuna narrowed his eyes when the tune abruptly came back, flitting around the ragged edges of his conscious as he concentrated on remembering.

_"Alouette,..te plu...rai..."_

"What's wrong Tsuna?" Giotto asked as he ran his thumb over Tsuna's brow in an attempt to smooth it back out.

"Oh, sorry." Tsuna jolted out of his trance. "I was trying to remember something, but it's gone again."

"It'll come to you later," Giotto said as he affectionately ruffled his hair. Then, apparently having remembered that he was a man on a mission, cracked his knuckles. "Are you sure Hibari didn't do anything to you? Did he hit you? Did he punch you? Did he touch you? Did he breathe the same air—"

Alaude clamped a hand Giotto's mouth. "You're getting ridiculous."

Tsuna could feel his cheeks heating up as he fished for the right response. He didn't want to lie—Giotto was his confidant after all, _plus _he always had ways of finding out—but he also didn't want to admit to breaking Giotto's ridiculous laws after barely a few hours from when he'd administered them.

"It wasn't anything that I didn't want," he mumbled as he tugged on his fringe nervously.

Horror flashed across Giotto's face. "Oh my god, did that bastard deflower you? I swear I'll string his balls across the laundry line—"

Again, Alaude shut him up.

"S-Stop being so extreme, Giotto-nii!" Tsuna blurted as he waved his hands. "Besides, I was more...innocent before I started working," he added as an afterthought, yelping when Giotto clutched him by the shoulders before embracing him tightly.

"I'm sorry! I've failed you as an older brother, it's all my fault!" Giotto wailed.

"Giotto-nii." Upon hearing Tsuna's tone, he disentangled himself and glanced at his little brother in curiosity. Apart from this afternoon's show of fighting ability, it had been a while since his brother displayed a hint of his more mature side.

He could confirm one fact now. Tsuna's eyes _did _change colors, sometimes not just in accordance to his mood. The first time he witnessed it happening was during when Tsuna first stood up to one of his bullies in high school. The air was eerily calm that day, Giotto recalled. In the end, Tsuna hadn't used his fist because he was against violence, even in self-defense. Giotto frowned a bit. He hoped that wasn't abnormal. He missed out on most of Tsuna's development due to his private tutoring that was necessary to cultivate the skills he needed to become the CEO of his grandfather's company. He was trying to make up for all of the lost time now, but he wasn't home for the more earth shattering events that changed Tsuna...

Like Fuuta's accident.

Those dreams that plagued Tsuna from time to time... He hoped that they wouldn't make any reappearances. In fact, he was going to ask Luce or Uni for remedies. They would know how to prevent the nightmares.

He didn't care about Fuuta at the magnitude Tsuna cared for him. Their relationship was somewhat akin to him and Tsuna. He loved Fuuta, yes, but not as much as he did Tsuna. It might have been because he only met the child a number of times that could be counted with just two hands, or maybe because Fuuta didn't take to him as much as he did Tsuna.

Fuuta was Tsuna's full-blooded brother. Giotto and Dino were only half from Iemitsu's earlier marriage that ended in a mutual divorce. It was a clean separation with no bad feelings. It was an easy break. Correction: it was supposed to be an easy break.

Angelica—that was his birth mother's name—wasn't supposed to die. But that unfortunate accident had led to Iemitsu falling in love with Nana who worked as an ER nurse at the hospital Angelica passed away in.

He had just barely turned three when that happened, and Dino, eight. Iemitsu's and Nana's wedding was swift—both had claimed to have fallen in love at first sight—and Tsuna was born soon after. Soon he couldn't even remember Angelica anymore, and Nana took over as the maternal figure. She was a lot better at it too, Dino had admitted when he was old enough to understand.

In his own way, Giotto had loved Tsuna on sight. The squirming bundle in Nana's arms didn't look that appealing to him initially, but when Tsuna grabbed his finger and made those unintelligible sounds that every baby made, a lasting bond was forged. Giotto felt a deep love form for his sibling at that moment.

When Tsuna grew older, it was clear who he liked best—Dino was a close second but second nevertheless. Tsuna picked his habits up from Giotto, but he did occasionally follow Dino around seeing that the oldest sibling spoiled him to death with affection. Tsuna cried whenever he was separated from Giotto for too long. He looked up to him as a role model. He would always sleep in Giotto's room, and he occupied it when it was empty. Tsuna followed after him like a duckling after its mother.

Fuuta was born when Tsuna was nine, close to Dino's age when he had witnessed Tsuna being born. Giotto was able to tell from the sparkle in Tsuna's eyes that he was enchanted with Fuuta in the way that he himself had been enchanted with Tsuna when he was born.

Tsuna doted on Fuuta almost more than Nana did—and his accident had been most crushing to him. Tsuna was the one that had changed the most. Tsuna—his sweet little innocent brother who was always so clumsy, so incapable, so inept in everything that he did that it was cute in a way—grew up abruptly in the few heartbeats it took to pull open the mangled door of the car.

Tsuna was the only one holding on now. Only he believed that Fuuta would wake from his coma, which now stacked up to four years. The doctors had confided to Iemitsu and Nana that the chance of Fuuta waking up was next to impossible, and when he did—which was a date on the calendar that existed between _when hell freezes over_ and _maybe in a million years—_it was almost guaranteed that he would have to relearn everything starting from when he was a baby. He would have to learn how to walk, how to talk, how to tie his shoes, how to eat—all over again. Giotto and Dino were the first ones to give up after a year. Iemitsu followed the year after and Nana a few days after Iemitsu. Tsuna had held steadfast, supplying the funds to the bill (and coercing Dino to help him) when Iemitsu stopped paying for the expensive hospital bills. There had been a slight souring in Iemitsu's relationship with Tsuna when the father had confessed he wanted to pull the plug.

_"Tsuna, you don't understand. This hurts me as well, so much—that my little boy isn't out alive like everyone else, playing ball or going to sleepovers or—" Iemitsu choked on a sob. "I don't want him in the goddamn hospital; I want him outside playing with his friends. But seeing him there like that, like a lifeless doll, that's not the way to live," Iemitsu continued, furiously wiping the tears off with his sleeve. "The doctors said there's no hope for him. What's the point in fooling ourselves into thinking that a miracle will happen? Tsuna, I think it's time to give up..."_

_"No!" Iemitsu, shell shocked and already trembling from grief, collapsed down on a chair when Tsuna yelled. Tsuna never put his foot down, had never stood up for anything. "Papa, as long as there's a chance—" Tears spilled much more easily from Tsuna's eyes, but the brunet made no move to wipe them as he continued— "I'm not giving up Fuuta. I'm not! You can stop believing, the whole world can stop believing, but I'm not. If I am the only one, that's alright—but please don't kill Fuuta without giving him another chance," Tsuna ended with a whisper._

Iemitsu had been swayed by Tsuna in the end. Despite Iemitsu telling Tsuna that he would pay the hospital bill—the amount of money was not too hefty, considering the fact that he worked only a step below the owner of the Vongola Company; Tsuna had taken up a job at a nearby restaurant to help pay for the bills. Iemitsu, wanting to expand on Tsuna's new-found strength, asked for Reborn to tutor his son in the same year. Somewhere in that time frame was when Tsuna probably started developing the calm, confident maturity that always threw everyone off when he displayed it.

"...Giotto-nii?" A tentative hand clasped in his was all it took to startle him out of his reverie.

"Oh, sorry," he said absentmindedly, noticing how ironic the situation was now. Tsuna had done the very same thing earlier.

Alaude sighed. The two really were alike.

"Giotto-nii? What are you doing with my lamp?" Tsuna asked fearfully when his brother spun it around in lethal arcs (never mind that it Dino sent it to him so it could double as a weapon in case a robber should ever dare to step foot in his living areas, which Tsuna thought was quite ridiculous given that _Giotto _was alive).

"Nothing, just testing how many hits it would take to deeply wound Hibari," Giotto said nonchalantly, as if discussing the weather.

Tsuna facepalmed. Back to square one.

Suddenly, the door to the bathroom opened. Tsuna saw the malicious gleam in his brother's eyes as he tightened his grip around the handle of the lamp. Acting on instinct, he propelled himself forward when Hibari stepped into view. As predicted, Giotto threw his lamp—Tsuna sorely wished he had his leather gloves on when he stopped the trajectory of the speeding furniture.

"Please don't, Giotto-nii, Dino-nii sent this to me and it's really expensive," Tsuna pleaded.

Hibari blinked. Was his life just in danger? And did Tsuna value the lamp over his life? Did he only launch himself inhumanely to save a lamp, because it was of _monetary _value, while managing to coincidentally save him from taking a face-full of metal? His mouth twitched with irritation. This herbivore had the weirdest priorities.

His eyes narrowed when he caught sight of Alaude. Well, maybe he should thank him for buying him time.

It wasn't long before Tsuna ushered Giotto out with promises that his virginity would stay intact. Alaude gave Hibari a congratulatory smirk behind Giotto's back.

"Sorry about that," Tsuna said hastily when his eyes met Hibari's.

"Hn."

Sawada Tsunayoshi was...very intriguing.

* * *

><p>It was ten when Tsuna was roused from his sleep (he slept early, exhausted from the day's events). He wouldn't be nearly as worried if Hibari was not looking as ticked off as he did and if he didn't see the wide grin on Mukuro's face who was standing near the door. Giotto was smiling from ear to ear.<p>

"We're going to karaoke. Get dressed."

* * *

><p>Yup, Fuuta is going to be important...<p>

So yeah, I'm so sorry if you have to go back and reread if something doesn't make sense. I know I had to do finalize some details OTL As always, feel free to ask me questions and correct any mistakes in my writing!

Yup, I know my chapters have been steadily 4K, but I didn't want to postpone an update any longer, especially since the next scene I want to write would probably push the word count over 4K. Please be pacified with my little peace offering until then ;w;


	11. Kings and Drinks Part 1

**AniManGa19930 **I love that pairing too honestly, but I also like G/Giotto and lament the fact that nobody else seems to think the same. Maybe for next chapter...hehe **ben4kevin **so dedicated ;'D ShamelessDilettante Mostly awkward though, right!? ;D **xryuchan27 **Nope, he's just in a _looooooong_ coma. Wow thanks, people usually don't say I'm funny ;D **Hunter-Eve-Storm **I KNOW RIGHT? Dramatic!Tsuna is _so_ canon! your ch 4 review - I cracked up reading that ;D **Guest **Ahhh, the infamous Tuna sandwich? I'm getting to that dear anon - in the next chapter, hopefully! ;D **WhiteAnxiety **Explained to you your first review via PM ;D I know, I'm all for the fluff *w* **nime 2 the Max **Wow, you're so kind. Hibari's personality is the one of the hardest but funnest characters I write, because I usually customize him. So. Much. Thanks! n_n

Thanks to** AnimeObssesed1116**, **rentamiya**, **lord of the scrys**, and reviewers up above! I get stumped easily so I always go back and reread reviews to cheer myself up `^`

* * *

><p>Sorry for any typos above, missing spell check on my school laptop - (this chapter will probably be edited)- Unbeta'd (for now)<p>

(also, here's some **love **to CH 9 reviewers - some of my favorites are in there! ;D)

**Sorry for taking so long to update! ;w; **I do have fantastic ideas for this chapter and the next, so you won't be waiting too long for the next update for this story. Yes, I have taken note that it's been a while since I updated my other fics as well. I'll get to it ASAP, I've been really busy lately, sorry! I wanted to get the first half of this chapter (the more boring parts, in my opinion) out first so you wouldn't have to wait even longer for an update - I will extremely busy for the next few days (midterms, etcetc)

**imitation - angel . blogspot . com**

^ that's my fanfiction blog - I do frequently update my status on there, so you always know how my fics are coming along. Do check if if you're curious to see where I am! Also, thinking of adding a chatbox on it, but I'm not sure if anybody would want to talk to me ;w;

**Notes: **(will add to since I'm sure I forgot several things but I'm short on time! eek)

_Si tu le dis, mon amour - _if you say so, my love

_Fermez la _- shut it

Also, thanks to **MeLoNnAiSE** for "Kings!" I discovered this game through her fanfiction "**Nami High**" (which is fantastic btw)

* * *

><p>Tsuna firmly believed that Giotto used his "Congratulations on getting the job!" celebration as an excuse to party. Really. His eye twitched. Why else would there be alcohol involved? He ducked when Reborn chucked another shot glass at him—his tutor seemed to be intent on getting him drunk. The karaoke room was packed—thankfully, with people that Tsuna was able to recognize, seeing that it was comprised of Vongola Café's staff. Unfortunately, he was on friendly terms with less than half of them (the rest were more or less strangers rather than acquaintances).<p>

Unconsciously, his eyes sought out Hibari. The Skylark was resting against one of the numerous couches that were scattered across the room, his face pinched and his body tensed to attack.

"SAWADAAAAAA!" someone slurred as they threw an arm around his shoulder. Tsuna staggered a little from the weight before he found his balance again. After a cursory glance, he determined that it was Ryohei.

"Ryo—onii-san," Tsuna said, hastily using his body as support for the obviously inebriated man. "Why did you drink so much," he groaned as he wondered why the boxer was heavier than usual.

"Careful with that barrel," Lampo drawled beside Ryohei, but made no move to help. Tsuna almost choked when he saw the barrel of alcohol Ryohei was lugging around. No fucking wonder.

"Onii-san, you're not planning to drink _all _of that are you?" Tsuna said, looking appropriately aghast.

"Don't worry, Decimo. He always has a barrel or two whenever there's a party. Speaking of which, want to try some?" The green-haired male extended a bottle of Grey Goose towards him.

"Er...no thanks," Tsuna politely refused. Because if he got started, then Reborn would most likely pull him into a drinking match. And those never ended well.

"Suit yourself, brat," Lampo said almost affectionately before heading to the drink table to mix the vodka with a diluent.

"EXTREMEEEEE!" Ryohei rumbled before promptly passing out.

"Onii-san!" Tsuna said in mild distress. He pried the boxer's hand from the barrel clasp and hauled him to a vacant couch, carefully positioning him on his side to prevent him from choking on his own vomit if he woke up. After making a few minor adjustments to make sure the boxer would not roll back on his back, he stood up and sighed. He was far too used to this party scene then he'd like to admit—mostly because of Reborn's schemes to get him to "socialize." Unfortunately, because of that, he had escaped the label of "party animal" by a hair's breadth in the yearbook.

"Oi, Takeshi. Hand me a sharpie."

"Aye, captain," came Yamamoto's joking reply. Tsuna ducked to avoid the marker that made a perfect arc over his head. He turned around, already expecting the next scene, having been the brunt of it himself the first few times he had bitten off more than he could chew. Gokudera uncapped the sharpie with his teeth before drawing over Ryohei's face with a flourish. Tsuna averted his eyes covertly, not wanting to become a witness. In doing so, he accidentally made eye contact with his older brother. With haste he broke the connection, lest Giotto tried to do something to put him in the spotlight. To satisfy the blond with at least the facade that he was having fun, he picked up a remote and started flipping through songs on the karaoke station. One particular title caught his eye and he panned the screen over to the lyrics. _Alouette. _He quickly adjusted the volume so that only he could hear it before pressing play.

"_Alouette, gentille alouette. Alouette, je te plumerai._" Tsuna's eyes widened. He knew this melody. It was a popular children's song. "_Je te plumerai la tête. Je te plumerai la tête. Et la tête! Et la tête! Alouette! Alouette!_" Tsuna stopped the karaoke machine, brow deeply furrowed as he raked through his brain for the meaning of the song. _Alouette_...it was a French song concerning...a _lark_. Hibari meant _skylark _in Japanese. He knew for a fact that it wasn't the raven-haired male though, given that he was in the same stall as he was in when the rendezvous occurred. Two others with possibly the same surname were Alaude and Fon. However, he knew that _Fon _meant wind in Chinese—he used to know a girl named I-Pin who would give him Chinese lessons from time to time. _Alaude, _on the other hand...quickly, he flipped his phone open and googled it. In seconds, search results popped up—_Alaude means "skylark" in Italian and French. _

Tsuna searched for Alaude in the crowd, finally finding him seated next to Giotto with an unreadable expression, although his body language indicated that he was uncomfortable. Tsuna's eyes dropped down to survey his shoes, confirming his suspicions when he saw the silver clasp. The brunet cocked his head to the side, wondering why his brother and Alaude met secretly in a _bathroom _of all places. Unless there was more to the story he didn't know...it would be unwise to surmise. His eyes narrowed in deep concentration as he recollected the events that led up to finding himself in a stall with Hibari. Hibari had offered no explanation as to why he had been standing outside the employees-only door.

Deep into his musings as he was, when someone shoved a glass in his hand he absentmindedly took a sip to sate his thirst. The burn of alcohol going down his throat made him grimace and pulled him out of this thoughts as he recognized the taste. He made a face—whoever mixed the cocktail had added too much lime juice. He wiped his mouth with his sleeve. Judging by the burn going down, the tequila was cheap too.

"Oi, lackey. What kind of margarita is this?" A solo cup was chucked in Tsuna's direction, and he ducked to dodge a flying object. _Again_.

"W-What? How could this be? I followed the recipe exactly—Colonello-senpai!"

Said blond sniggered as Reborn glared at him. Tsuna winced at the volume of Skull's voice before setting his drink down at an abandoned table.

"Hey, kid—welcome to the Vongola frat house, kora!" Colonello shouted. A round of drunken clapping and cheering followed. _Oh. So this was what the partying was about. _"Congratulations on snagging the job too, kora!" the blond added in as an afterthought.

"Tsuna, come over here!" Giotto called, signaling him to the massive circular table where most of them were seated at. The table's center was carved out, leaving its shape to be fairly reminiscent to a yen coin's. Obediently but hesitantly, Tsuna made his way over to where everyone else was assembling, almost jumping in shock when he saw Kyoko and Haru. A girl with a shade of amethyst hair sat between them.

"Kyoko-chan? Haru-san? What are you two doing here?" Tsuna asked, confused.

"Dame-Tsuna. You already forgot what I told you the first day?" Reborn snorted and took another drink from his glass.

A "Hi, Tsu-kun!" and "Hi, Tsuna-san!" came from Kyoko and Haru respectively. Yuni stepped in to explain their absences—Kyoko, Haru, and Chrome—the purple-haired one—all worked two jobs, alternating between the daycare and the café. The daycare had been swamped as of late, so Kyoko and Haru had taken momentary leave. Chrome had been out sick. Tsuna nodded his head at the clarification before introducing himself politely to Chrome. The timid girl shyly introduced herself in turn.

"Be nice to my adorable little sister, Sawada Tsunayoshi-kun. Kufufu." Tsuna blanched, failing to draw any connection between the two. One seemed introverted and quiet while the other was...perverse, to say the least.

"Sit in any seat. You'll move anyway," Giotto said. Tsuna took a seat next to Gokudera, who was sitting next to Yamamoto.

"Come _on_ Hibari-kun, your brother's playing," he heard someone pout. After craning his neck a little, Tsuna saw that it was Elena.

Hibari gave her an _are you even serious _look. "Why would that matter," he deadpanned.

"...So is Tsuna," Elena added mischievously. Tsuna choked, accepting the glass of water frantically thrusted at him by Gokudera. _What was she thinking? _

Hibari glared at Daemon's fiancée for a second before replying. "Fine."

"Yay—"

"Is that what you thought I'd say?" Hibari cut in, rolling his eyes. "No."

"Reborn, help me out a little here," Elena whined petulantly.

"What game are we playing?" Yamamoto asked in the middle of their exchange as he drummed his fingers on the table.

"Kings," Asari answered helpfully.

Tsuna's eyes widened. He had played several variations of the game before. And whenever alcohol was involved... He smiled nervously at Elena. "Hibari shouldn't—doesn't need to play if he doesn't want to," he said, mentally smashing his head against a wall at his word choice. Hibari would probably see it as a challenge and rise up against it.

"Hibari. Play and I'll owe you a match," Reborn said suddenly, smirking deviously at Tsuna as he reveled in torturing his ex-student.

"Hn." Hibari mulled over his options for a few seconds before trudging over begrudgingly (in a dignified manner, of course). Tsuna sobbed in his mind. What was with Reborn being able to control everybody anyway?

Elena took the seat next a seat over from Tsuna, placing her purse in the empty seat beside her, managing to state her objective blatantly without ever opening her mouth: The only available seat was next to Tsuna.

Tsuna gulped nervously when Hibari grumpily sat down next to him, his mouth drying and futilely wishing that Giotto would excuse him from this game. Which he wouldn't. Duh. A flash of red in the corner of his eye caught his attention and he turned around, jaw dropping a little when he saw that it was Enma with his older brother and Basil. He hadn't heard from Enma since—oh. Tsuna's face flushed when he realized the reason why—he hadn't checked his phone ever since he...Hibari...bed—

Tsuna downed the rest of the water in a single gulp to keep himself from thinking about it. "Enma-kun, Basil-san. Cozart-san." He waved. He glanced around for some empty seats, finally realizing just how many people were crowded around the table. Giotto turned to see what was holding the party up, grinning widely when he smacked G on the back.

"Your lover's here!" Giotto said loudly.

G rolled his eyes and called Cozart over as Elena took her purse off the "taken" seat. Hibari snorted.

Since Tsuna was already sandwiched, Enma bravely chose to sit down next to Mukuro while Basil took the seat beside Enma.

"Everyone's finally here. Now let's get this party started, kora!"

* * *

><p>Tsuna made a pyramid out of his three (empty, for now) shot glasses. There. Now they didn't look so intimidating next to the bottle of Barcadi—one of the higher profs that guaranteed a drunken stupor and a bitch of a hangover in the morning if too much was consumed too soon. The four underaged girls were given bottles of the soda of their choice instead.<p>

Daemon took his station at the hole in the center, his role being the dealer and cocktail mixer. He shuffled a pack of cards expertly (Tsuna shivered when he remembered their game of _Foltern_).

"Stop showing off already and deal out the cards," Elena piped up cheekily. Daemon rolled his eyes and sighed.

"_Si tu le dis, mon amour._"

"_Fermez la,_" Elena muttered with the slight beginnings of a blush.

Tsuna took a sip of his Skyy cocktail to determine what it was exactly—he hadn't really clarified when he flippantly asked for "Anything with Skyy in it." Giotto must have tipped Daemon off on what Tsuna liked, because it was a Bellagio—he always did like sweet drinks—or rather, sugar in general.

He bit his lip nervously when Daemon started handing out the cards. The rules were fairly simple (although altered, as Tsuna expected). Twos meant you gave someone a drink. Threes meant you take a drink. The Jack made up the "round rule." The sole King in the game was the power card, and the Jokers were under its whim. Twenty seven cards made up the altered deck—one king, two jokers, one jack, twenty twos, and three threes.

Tsuna flipped his card over when it landed facedown on his spot—_two_. He breathed in relief. Hibari took a drink beside him—he had gotten a two as well. Tsuna refrained from staring at the pale skin of Hibari's neck, finding himself terribly curious about what type of alcohol the Skylark liked. No matter, it wasn't any of his business anyway, he chided himself as he took a drink.

Fon held his king in between his fingers. "Jokers?" he asked serenely.

"Aw, shit." Colonello turned in his joker. "Who's the other one, kora?"

"It's me," Cozart said. Even Reborn had to chuckle at the mismatched couple.

Everyone waited in anticipation for Fon's order—G especially.

"...Switch seats."

"You _suck, _Fon," Colonello whined. The martial artist shrugged. Sadism really wasn't his strong point...although he could only promise that when he was sober. Cozart shrugged at G before moving to sit next to Lal and Reborn. Asari received the Jack—ordering for everyone in a red shirt to drink up. G, Gokudera, Fon, and Cozart drank. Knuckle, Chrome, and Elena received the three threes—giving the drinks to Lampo, Haru, and Mukuro respectively.

"I thought you'd be easier on me, kufufu." Mukuro took another drink from his glass.

Elena's eye twitched. "It'd be the exact opposite."

"Your words wound me," Mukuro said, feigning hurt as Daemon gathered up the cards again to shuffle them. Elena sorely wished that Mukuro sat closer. She would've kicked him under the table, foul play or not.

The next round of cards was dealt out.

"I have the King," Kyoko announced cheerfully.

"Hahi! Not fair!" Haru placed her two down on the table and took a swig out of her soda can.

Tsuna flipped his card over. _Joker. _Damn...although he doubted Kyoko would think of suggesting a hardcore dare. Who was the other joker?

"Looks like Hibari got the other EXTREME joker!" Knuckle said, who thankfully, unlike his brother, seemed to have a volume cap. Tsuna paled.

"You better not have rigged the fucking cards Daemon," Giotto said maliciously as he pointed an empty bottle of Skyy vodka towards the dealer. Daemon held his hands up in surrender.

"I did nothing, I swear."

"Just listen to what the King has to say," Lampo drawled. "Peasants."

"Oi, you get a couple drinks in you and then you think you're all high and mighty? Come over here you little fuck, I'll teach you a lesson—" Giotto clamped a hand over his best friend's mouth.

"Watch your mouth, G."

"Are you just going to let him go like that?" G said, teeth clenching in frustration. "Little brat needs to be taught a lesson."

"And a lesson he'll be taught...later." Giotto smirked. G snorted but relented.

"Oh, I got it. Switch drinks with each other!" Kyoko ordered cheerfully.

Tsuna briefly felt a flash of alarm before pushing it away. There was no way Kyoko would've known about his earlier curiosity about Hibari's drink. He pushed his drink towards Hibari. The elder swapped it out with his glass before reciprocating the gesture.

"Drink up!" Kyoko encouraged.

Tsuna eyed the glass in front of him. The mixture was clear with bubbles and a slice of lime. It was easy enough to guess what it was, but the taste on the other hand... He licked his lips once nervously before taking a sip. Immediately, he set the drink down, his action coinciding with Hibari's as they both shot each other a look. Hibari's drink was a classic—gin and tonic. The Tanqueray and Schwepps combination was not odd in itself, but just the amount of each ingredient used resulted in a drink more bitter than he would've liked. In contrast, he could tell that his drink was too sweet for Hibari.

"Can we switch back?" Tsuna suggested, acting on both of their best interests.

"Hmm," Kyoko hummed. "Now that you asked, no."

"..."

Tsuna was beginning to see wisps of a devil incarnate.

Alaude, Giotto, and G all received the threes of the round. The trio gave Hibari the drinks with sniggers (mostly Giotto and G). Hibari glared at them before taking drinks out of the too-sweet concoction. Mammon received the Jack, and he/she (Tsuna still hadn't figured out) tonelessly ordered for everyone in the Arcobaleno section to drink up. Reborn, Colonello, Lal, Fon, Skull, and Verde drank.

Daemon dealt the next round.

Giotto, who was well on his way on working through his second drink placed his King down triumphantly. "Time to play this game right. Two jokers make out for at least ten seconds. Make it hot."

"I always knew you were into voyeurism," Daemon said.

"I'll be a voyeur to your murder," Giotto muttered.

Fon turned in his Joker with a wince. His eyes widened slightly in surprise when he saw Mammon follow suit beside him.

"Oh, one of the jokers is actually a girl. Not bad considering the ratio," G commented. He got a particularly nasty glare from Mammon for revealing her gender in front of everyone—well, only the Decimo section were kept in the dark anyway.

Tsuna blinked. Oh. So she was a girl.

"...I'm not getting paid enough to do this," she complained. She eyed the high prof Bacardi bottle before facing her acquaintance/sometimes friend/always rival (in her mind anyway).

"How should we go about this..." Fon trailed off when Mammon moved to straddle his lap.

"Get it over with as fast as possible. After all, time is money." And with that, the Arcobaleno pressed her lips against Fon's and went straight for tongue.

"Tsuna, shield your eyes!" Giotto said pointlessly.

"You are such a hypocrite sometimes." G rolled his eyes.

Although Mammon was in the power position, Fon was surprisingly adept at wresting the control from her. With her arms entangled around his neck, he was free to move his own as he wished—and he took full advantage of that, running his thumbs along her sensitive sides. Mammon reacted instantly as he knew she would, and she pressed against him firmly as he sucked lightly on her tongue.

"Get a room," Skull jeered when the ten seconds were up. Mammon immediately tore away from Fon, regretting the decision even though she knew she shouldn't.

"Don't forget your place," Mammon growled and smacked Skull against the head.

"O-Ow! O-Of course not Vip—Mammon-senpai!" Skull earned another smack for his slip up on Mammon's name.

"Good show," Giotto commented, his smile light although he briefly wondered if there was anything going on between the two. Only time would tell—and they had plenty of it tonight.

Basil, who received the Jack and was smiling tipsily, was about to give the rule before promptly passing out. Enma grimaced but had an amused smile playing on his lips when he went to drag the intoxicated lightweight out. Skull, Lal, and Yamamoto received the threes—the first giving it to Reborn, the latter two opting for Verde.

"You'll regret that choice, lackey," Reborn said sinisterly. Skull gulped.

* * *

><p>Cutting this in half for aforementioned reasons. Please drop a review in the section below if you have time, that's typically my motivation TT^TT<p>

/this fic isn't that popular lately, but I have so many good ideas fkslfjlaga


	12. Kings and Drinks Part 2

Thanks for reviewing guys, sorry if I've been a little whiny. Everyone has one of _those _moments. I like writing for readers, y'know? It's fun :)

Decided to post a quickie! Figured you guys would appreciate it because I like to take my time when writing...and if I went into more substantial stuff (coughlimecough), I would've taken much longer. Plus I haven't updated my other stories in a while! This story just gets my love because I like the chapters I'm writing at the moment c: Also in the while I haven't posted, I've been reading other fanfictions and watching Psycho-Pass. DOES KOUGAMI NOT LOOK LIKE HIBARI BECAUSE YES HE DOES. And Akane is so totally a fem!Tsuna. (Wait I got off-topic! I meant to say that I've also began to write Tsuna a little more differently, with more hints of masculinity because I tend to effeminate him a little too much. Uke!Tsuna is cute but still, he's a man).

Okay /will stop digressing

* * *

><p><strong>ahzria <strong>I've honestly never written Fon/Mammon, so we'll see how this goes c: And certainly, I've meant to that for a while now ehehe. Next chapter though. &thanks for your motivation! **Victory Is My Name **HI HOSANNA ;D Aww, my phone's not in military time though :c **kyoneko87 **ehehe...have some 6927 in this chapter. Also, I'll have that woman and her kid reappear as soon as they're needed as plot devices *-*... of course, the other characters haven't been added because they run in different social circles. Once university starts, the fun beings 8D ~ Thank you for your praise! n_n **GreenDrkness **Sadly she has no clue (as of yet!) **Guest **I felt that I've seen that type of Tsuna too often, so I decided to go a different route ;D Oooh, you're a Fon/Mammon shipper too? I've been reading up on that pairing lately and it's been...interesting. **Calemirneth** aw, thanks sweetheart! **WhiteAnxiety **I love alternated games! And I know, I'm not a fan of cliffhangers either, but you gotta end the chapter ;c **onewiththetree **Sadly, it's been confirmed that Mammon is a male...up till the point I read the Reborn! wikia, I've always thought s/he was a girl LOL Thanks! **Wolf1989** shh. no one needs to know. ;) **asian0music0love** those asterisk are very...suggestive. Planning to do some of that Reborn/Skull next chapter! **yuuhikari0308 **You know...;)...stuff. SOON. As in next chapter. **p. ageha **coming next chapter (the 1827 that is) - since the odds of the jokers being Hibari and Tsuna are kind of slim considering the number of players...which is why I'm kicking some out LOL **NAO-chan33 **Not sure...bursts of confidence? Maybe? Thanks for the encouragement and luck! n_n **red-fox-weng **...what? Chocolate, Tsuna, and mine is all I understand because it looks like Spanish ;( **ezcap1st **oh dear, 2013 seems to be a tough year for everyone...so many things going on _ And I know right?!

also thanks to** ben5kevin, dustbunniehailey, terei, seaweedinapile, CrimsonSkyTamer, skyvoltage, DJpineapple, berrysplashQT, Kai Chen, Love Chronical, Renkin-chan, ShadowFax100 **for being sweethearts ;) as well as the above!

* * *

><p><strong>Pairings in this chapter<strong> (thought it would be a good idea to start this): 6927/2769, slight 8059, slight Fon/Mammon, Colonello/Lal not mentioned BUT IT'S THERE. c:

**Also in this chapter: **Tsuna lapdancing

_grappa _- a type of Italian wine

Sexy Back by Justin Timberlake references

* * *

><p>The next round of cards were dealt.<p>

Lambo took a sip out of his _grappa_ wine mix before setting it down on the table. "I'm King." He swirled the contents of his drink around nonchalantly as he thought of an order. "Red Joker gives Black Joker a lap dance for a minute."

Tsuna flipped his card, blanching when he saw the Red Joker. _Shitshitshitshitshit. _He took a gulp of his drink to attempt to calm his nerves, grimacing the slightest bit when he remembered that he had switched glasses with Hibari.

"'Fess up jokers," Giotto said, a tad irritable due to the slow pacing of the game.

"I'm the Black Joker," Mukuro said with an amused look on his face.

"I have the Red Joker," Tsuna muttered. Gokudera gave him an extremely pitying look and patted him on the shoulder while Giotto spluttered and set his drink down.

"I want to volunteer as tribute!" he demanded, slamming his hands down on the table.

"You're not nearly drunk enough to start quoting Hunger Games shit okay, Giotto?" G said, flicking his best friend's forehead.

"Nufufu. No can do, Giotto, you know as well as I do. No exceptions," Daemon said with an air of finality.

"You make it sound like Tsunayoshi-kun just received the death penalty," Mukuro said, punctuating his sentence with a wicked grin.

"I made up the goddamn rules," Giotto growled as he glared-pouted at G and rubbed his forehead, but knowing that it was of little use.

Tsuna felt incredibly self-conscious as just about everyone at the table directed their attention at him. He did the only thing he could think of—he picked up his drink and started to take large gulps.

"Oi, does he even know how to?" Colonello asked. Giotto's eyes brightened up at the loophole.

"No of course he doesn't—"

"I do," Tsuna cut in, his eyes at half-mast as he lowered his lips back on his—Hibari's—drink. "Just let me finish this first." He was going to have to numb himself as thoroughly as possible.

"The kid can drink decently," Lal commented. Cozart nodded in agreement beside her.

Reborn smirked. "Of course, I _did _tutor him after all."

Giotto, however, look positively scandalized. "Where in the world did he learn how to give a lap dance? The last time I checked, Namimori was a pretty modest town..."

Enma and Cozart coughed, communicating with their eyes silently that _that night _was to remain a secret.

Yamamoto whistled when Tsuna finished the gin and tonic. Tsuna took a deep breath and closed his eyes. When they opened again, they were flecked with amber. Only the most observant noticed. The brunet sauntered over to Mukuro.

"Do you prefer it with music?" Tsuna asked in a surprisingly stable voice. Before Mukuro got a chance to reply, Daemon tossed his phone at the brunet.

"Choose a song from there, it's already hooked up to the karaoke machine."

Tsuna caught it effortlessly, swiping his thumb across his screen and choosing the first song he saw that had the word "sexy" in it. If he had to do something, he might as well do it all the way.

"Kufufu. Don't disappoint me, Tsunayoshi-kun," Mukuro said with a devious twinkle in his eye. Tsuna remained unfazed—it was probably the alcohol working its wonders.

"Remember, no touching, okay?" Tsuna whispered in Mukuro's ear before smirking slowly.

The familiar beat that played through the karaoke speakers had everyone thinking _"Of course Daemon would have this song."_

"_I'm bringing sexy back..._" Tsuna glanced provocatively over his shoulder, his usual wide eyes and innocent face sharpening into a sexy expression.

"_Them other boys don't know how to act..._" Tsuna trailed a hand seductively up Mukuro's legs, letting them linger on this thighs for a second before gently parting them to make more room for himself.

"_I think it's special what's behind your back..._"

Tsuna parted his legs over Mukuro's right knee, and rhythmically swayed his hips to the beat of the song. He bent over to stretch the material of his jeans (he had automatically went for comfort when Giotto told him to get dressed) more thinly over his ass, hovering back several times to feather light touches against Mukuro's clothed arousal that was guaranteed to grow more prominent in the next few moments.

It was incredibly awkward facing his audience (despite the fact that his eyes were fixated on the arabesque-ish designs on the carpet) and not his client. It would also be incredibly awkward vice versa, but he decided to go with the lesser of the two evils and paused his hip swaying momentarily to turn around. Mukuro was staring at him with widened eyes and lips parted slightly in part shock, part awe, and part lust. The part of Tsuna that wasn't completely engrossed with monitoring his movements (so he wouldn't end up kicking Mukuro in the spleen or something in the midst of straddling him on the chair) was concentrated on making said movements as slow as possible. He had to drag this out for a minute, after all.

"_So turn around and I'll pick up the slack._"

When Tsuna finally positioned himself neatly on Mukuro's lap, the illusionist had regained his composure and was staring calmly at him with an infuriatingly sexy smirk. Tsuna returned the smirk with one of his own, carefully timing his next movement so he could stay on beat.

The occupants of the table stared at Tsuna in rapture as he started to twist and gyrate, his arms raised above his head to avoid getting in his way. When Timberlake hit the part of the song where he sang about shackles and slaves, Tsuna put his hands together as if they were bound by handcuffs.

"You don't need to see this Yuni," Reborn said matter-of-factly as he covered her eyes. The girl pouted and moved his hand out of the way.

"Uncle Reborn," she whined when he censored her view again. Cozart sweatdropped. _Uncle?_

"_It's just that no one makes me feel this way._" Tsuna had to move his hands down so he could trap Mukuro's hands before they went to places they shouldn't be going to. The illusionist's breathing was starting to get strained as Tsuna continued to grind against him tortuously. Alaude noted with narrowed eyes that Hibari was staring. The raven-haired male's gaze was in between a mix of mesmerized and incredibly pissed off. If he gripped his glass any harder, it would probably shatter.

Kyoko and Haru were staring in rapt attention, while Chrome averted her eyes after initially staring in surprise to spare her brother and the stranger she just met some embarrassment. Several of the more easygoing occupants of the table were able to chuckle—namely, Yamamoto, Asari and Knuckle. Giotto, despite his horror, was unable to take his eyes off the duo. The rest of the table shared his reaction. Minus the horror. Because _damn, _Tsuna lap-danced like a god.

("What are you doing?" Fon asked Mammon when she shifted in her seat awkwardly—no, _suspiciously_).

"None of your business," was her curt reply. Fon smiled in amusement—she was definitely up to something.)

Mukuro was _this close _to moaning in appreciation when Tsuna abruptly stopped his heavenly ministrations. With his remaining dignity, he winked at Tsuna and offered, "We can continue where we left off in my room." Tsuna tactfully ignored the illusionist and climbed off with as much grace as he could muster. Which admittedly, after the lap dance, was pretty low.

Elena was the first to break the silence after that. "That was pretty hot, Tsu-chan." The table then erupted in cat calls and raucous laughter. Tsuna's cheeks flamed in embarrassment and he hit Daemon up for another drink, this time receiving a mixture of Skyy vodka and coke along with a crooked smirk.

"_We have a lot to talk about when we get home,_" Giotto mouthed to Tsuna. The brunet grimaced and lifted his glass to his lips to drink. Maybe if he got himself drunk enough, he wouldn't have to remember this in the morning (past experiences dictated that he had an unusually high tolerance for alcohol though, so that would be unlikely, and moreso because of Giotto's presence).

Viper, Knuckle, and Alaude received the threes and all gave them to Verde—the Chemistry major was a lightweight, and he was so drunk that he was starting to make googly eyes at Mukuro. Gross. Cozart received the Jack and ordered indiscriminately for everyone to drink up. Skull unceremoniously dumped Verde under the table when he passed out.

"Hey, this could become a thing, kora," Colonello commented. "Whoever passes out gets thrown under the table." Reborn smirked sinisterly at Skull. The stuntman gulped and hoped his superior wasn't getting any ideas.

The girls, namely Haru, Chrome, Kyoko, and Yuni were herded over to the karaoke and DDR station on the other side of the room (Reborn bluntly told Yuni to get the hell out unless she wanted to scar her virgin eyes, and the rest of the girls just followed, but with curiosity in their eyes).

"God, it's like a fucking sausage fest here," Gokudera muttered. Elena was taken and therefore never went too wild on drinking games (plus Daemon would whisk her away when her judgment grew too impaired). Lal was basically a man to him (goddamn Spartan bitch), and Mammon just gave him the creeps. He jumped about a foot in his seat when something warm covered his hand. He instinctively yanked it back, raising his annoyed eyes until they sighted on Yamamoto.

"Maa, Hayato, isn't this fun?" Yamamoto almost slurred. Gokudera rolled his eyes—he was getting tipsy already? Tsuna blinked as he sat and observed. Yamamoto's eyes didn't match the rest of his countenance—they were calculative and very much sober.

"What are you doing?" Gokudera hissed as Yamamoto began to intertwine their hands before moving it over until it was under the shadow of the table.

"Nobody can see like this," Yamamoto said brightly. The silver-haired Italian was about to protest, but realized that he didn't really have any reasons that a drunk Yamamoto would heed. Plus, the way their hands were clasped together and radiated warmth felt...nice. Warm. Peaceful. Like they belonged with each other—Gokudera put a stop to that train of thought. Those type of thoughts were unhealthy. Daemon dealt out the next hand.

"Bow down to the King, peasants!" Lampo crowed. G's eye twitched as his hand clenched around his glass, wondering if Giotto would stop him if he tried to decapitate the annoying little shit. "I dunno, suck face or something, ya?" G sighed. From the way he was speaking, the poor fool would pass out sooner or later. Low class lightweight.

Gokudera flipped his card over, feeling his blood turn to ice when he saw the red joker.

"Looks like the little doggie's got the Joker~ Kufufu." Gokudera was about to stand up and deck the fucker in the face but he realized just in time that his hand was still entwined in Yamamoto's. Fuck. He settled for snarling at the sick creep.

"I've got the other joker..."

* * *

><p>And I'm just going to say it's fairly easy to guess who the joker is.<p>

Next chapter will feature more explicit stuff and get down to the nitty gritty of the game _Kings _(aka players getting piss-drunk). Reborn/Skull will be one of the pairings, 1827 will definitely be one of the more prominent ones.

Leave me feedback my little angels~ 8D


	13. Indefinite Hiatus

Hello, I'm sorry that you haven't heard me from a while. I've gotten really busy - or rather, found a lack of time and interest to write fanfiction - and while it pains me to admit this, I think for the most part, I've outgrown fanfiction. I still love the fandom, I still love the characters, the anime, the imagination people have in coming up with their fanfictions - it's just not for me anymore. I still have a lot of ideas for fanfictions, I just am not eager enough to write them out anymore. I am truly sorry to all the readers that have read my fanfiction - I will not update anymore unless I get a sudden spark of genius and inspiration. Which is...not very probable. I may still update this account with **oneshots**, but I doubt that any of my ongoing fanfictions will get any new chapters. Each and every one of my fanfictions (excluding oneshots) are now on INDEFINITE HIATUS. And so am I. Thanks to the community for making my brief stay on here rather fun and enjoyable. Happy writing!


End file.
